Four Years Through Our Eyes
by RGZ Archer
Summary: A series of chapters focusing on the Tamers, and how time has changed them, some for the better,others not. Better summery inside, requests for who you want to see next are welcome!
1. Her Battle

Her Battle

AN: That's right, the first chapter of 'Random Battles' is here! Now, the reason for this fic is that I want to really get in some practice with these characters before the 'big one' that I'm working on. The only way to do this is by practicing, but! I figured, why not make that practice something others can enjoy? There will be some mild cases of shipping, but only in the strictest of terms, nothing major or really big, as that's what my main stories are for, this is just for fun and practice. This first chapter might be a bit of a shock, but that's on purpose. I wanted to write something that blew readers away but at the same time wasn't too far out there. The primary ship for this series should be obvious, but there will be some not so obvious ones as well. Oh, and if they read this, B.C, Crazy8, I finally kept my promise from all those months ago! Enjoy!

Studying her reflection in the store's window, the teen girl sighed. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what to do. She knew that it was wrong, but she was jealous of her friend. For four years they had known each other, four years of friendship, trials, and difficulties. Fighting battle after battle and letting nothing stop them.

At least, not until now.

Four years of friendship that not even the Digimon Sovereign Zhuqiaomon could hope to break was now being threatened by a red eyed brown haired sixteen year old boy.

One Takato Matsuki

Part of her felt guilty for even thinking about the boy. Sure, her life wasn't perfect, it was filled with problems and family issues like everyone else's. But compared to what her friend had gone through in life, she had it easy.

But at the same time, there was a part of her didn't care. She was human; she had the right to feel this way just as much as her friend did, didn't she? Why should her friend be the only one to get what she wants?

"You were thinking about him again, weren't you?"

It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement.

With a frustrated sigh, the teenage girl turned to her partner with a slight frown.

"Was I that obvious?"

Her partner, while generally respectful to all, had changed a bit over the four years they had worked together. She had become much more comfortable around people, and now even expressed a varying range of emotions in plain sight, something she never would have been seen doing a few years back.

"Well, you were staring at a _dress_ of all things, and that's not exactly like you now is it?"

The girl scoffed.

"Please, like I would ever be seen wearing something like that? No way, never," the girl denied as she walked away from the store window and continued down the sidewalk. Her partner keeping perfect stride beside her.

While the general populous still knew very little about Digimon, and Hypnos was still top secret, the Tamer's themselves were rather well known, as were their partners.

Officially they were just a bunch of kids with very unique pets. Unofficially however, they were government sanctioned and fully deputized agents of the law. Their authority was limited, but they still had it. In the event of a bio-emergence, their authority superseded _all_. They had no equals in those situations and their word was law.

Also, as one particularly pesky stalker had quickly discovered, threatening them was like threatening a government agent.

A very, _very_ bad idea.

That was the only reason people didn't fear her or her partner, they were well known and for the most part respected.

One, while having a gentle appearance at first glance and not seeming to be much of a threat, was actually _very_ powerful. Having fought _and _defeated Deva, and other Deva level Digimon in the past. The other was the five foot two tomboy Digimon Queen. A title that she had worked hard to earn and tried even harder to uphold.

With a nearly perfect record in the card game, as well as in Taming, she was doing a spectacular job.

Now, of all the Tamers, she was the one to have undergone the most changes since meeting her partner. She was a great deal calmer now than she had been years earlier, but at the same time she had learned how to express herself how and when she wanted to, rather than falling back on old failsafe tactics.

The girl smirked at that thought.

Every now and then she would put on a show and act like her old self. And every time she did, it would scare the living daylights out of the others, especially Kazu and Kenta.

"_I still don't know how those two became Tamer's. They just goof off all the time! Kenta's actually pretty smart when Kazu's not around, but Kazu couldn't sit still through a funeral to save his life!"_

Still, she tolerated the two if for no other reason than they were _Takato's_ friends. That alone was all that shielded them from her wrath.

"_I still need to get Kazu back for that little comment of his last week. No way could that tin can of a partner of his lay a finger on MY Digimon."_

Her partner seemed to be reading her thoughts and shot her a warning look, almost like it would make her instantly forgive him for the remark. Though it was futile, she appreciated that her partner was trying her best to keep her from going too far.

Thinking about getting back at Kazu however only led her thoughts back to the red eyed wonder.

Going through her memories, she tried to find just when it was that the goggle headed youth had wormed his way into her heart. She remembered the first time that she saw him with Henry, then how frequently she saw him with _her_ after that. Then there was the whole fiasco with going to the Digital World.

That made her shiver.

Tightening the denim jacket she wore around her thin frame, she tried to block out _that_ line of thinking. The battles, Impmon becoming Beelzemon, her partner nearly being killed before her very eyes.

Guilmon becoming Megidramon.

Another shudder passed through her body.

She hadn't shown it at the time because of everything else that was happening, but at that very moment, Takato did something he had never done to her before.

He scared her.

She had only known him for a few weeks, but in that time she had come to see him as a good natured person, someone that always turned the other cheek and seemed to have a bottomless well of both patients and compassion.

But at that moment, in just the blink of the eye, her mental perception of the boy was completely destroyed.

No longer did she see him as that goofy bumbling Gogglehead. He was a sleeping volcano, dormant and calm unless provoked.

To date, she could still count the number of times his temper got the better of him on one hand, but that only served to reinforce the degree of his inner strength, what it took to hold back that raging inferno that burned within him.

He was the last one to loose his cool, the last one to give up, and the last one to fall in battle.

The other reason she tried to avoid thinking about that particular incident is it was a very sore subject for her. She had been next to useless in that final battle with Beelzemon, were it not for the timely arrival of Gallantmon, her partner surly would have died. Then, not even a few minutes later, she had only been able to watch as MegaGargomon did the only real damage against Zhuqiaomon, again she and her partner had been useless.

Following that on her less than stellar record at the time was the various battles and skirmishes with the D-Reaper. She hated to admit it, but what had she actually done to help fight it? Takato and Gallantmon fought and destroyed Agent 01, and were responsible to rescuing Jeri. Beelzemon, despite being gravely injured had even managed to cause more damage to the D-Reaper than she had! The final pin in the preverbal cushion had been when Henry and Terriermon singlehandedly eradicating the D-Reaper from existence.

The best she had managed to do was take out some of the innumerable agents of the D-Reaper, no better than Kazu or Kenta.

And that stung her pride worst than anything.

Going over those battles, she did find one tiny little thing to cause her to smile however.

"_Of course, that's pretty much all Ryo was able to do too, and he's supposed to be the 'Digimon King'."_

While she had managed to get to know him a bit better since then, she still didn't see him as more than a good acquaintance. There was just something about him the rubbed her the wrong way.

"_Then again, he was also about as useless as the rest of us when the Parasimon invaded. If it hadn't been for Takato…"_ She never gave it anymore thought than that though for one simple and irrefutable reason.

Takato never had, and never would fail. It was not just hopeful wishing on her part, it was law, and it would never be anything else. He had come through for them no matter how powerful the enemy was.

That made her smile grow even more. Just thinking about the knight in shinning armor was enough to make her noticeably more pleasant, but for the sake of her reputation she was careful to keep such thoughts to herself.

_Beep chirp beep chirp beep chirp_

"Huh? A wild one?" Checking her D-Arc, she saw that there was indeed a Bio-emergence, and it was very close.

Grinning at the prospect of venting some of her aggregation, she reached for her cell phone.

Just like clockwork.

_Ring ring ring_

_Ring ring ring_

Flipping her new Razor XF open, she didn't even need to check the screen to see who it was from.

"There has been a level seven Bio-emergence detected near you in the Shibuya subway terminal. Should I contact the others or do you think you can handle it on your own?"

It took everything she had to hold back from laughing.

"_It must be a new recruit, that or Riley finally managed to browbeat Yamaki into taking a vacation,"_ she thought with a smirk.

"Don't bother the others, I'll handle it myself. If it's a level seven it's barely an Ultimate. How long do I have until it completes Bio-emergence?" She asked as she started running down the stairs to the subway station.

"Three minutes twenty seconds. It's in the middle of the tunnels though, so we'll redirect any currently in route rail lines," the young and noticeably male operator said professionally.

"Alright, I'm on it." Closing her cell phone, she jumped down onto the tracks and started running towards the tunnels, her partner running along beside her.

After just a few minutes of running, her D-Arc arrow started spinning in circles, then showed four inwardly pointing triangles.

"This is it, ready?"

Her partner nodded in response, already shifting into her battle mindset and focusing her senses to find the enemy.

_Laughter_

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"No…it cant be.."

_Laughter_

"Well, well, well. Of all the humans to run into, and Digimon Tamer's at that, what are the chances of the first one I come across being you?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she could feel her resolve weaken ever so slightly. Over the years she had battled _many_ wild ones, and had only required occasional assistance.

But this one…

This one still gave her nightmares, even after four years.

"_No…that's…that's impossible! Takato and Guilmon, they destroyed you!"_

The lights flickered as a train passed by overhead. The sound of its wheels grinding across the metal trusses seemed miles and miles away to her. Her entire being was focused on the creature standing only a few dozen feet away from her.

"_Why do I feel so cold? It's not like back then, there's no ice here!"_ Her mind tried to reason that this was a subway tunnel, not a meat locker. But her body just couldn't seem to focus on that, instead only focusing on the horrible memories of four years ago.

"What's the matter? Cant think of any greetings for your _true_ partner?" It taunted while walking ever so slowly towards her.

Images of her friends trying to help her flashed across her mind, Takato dead set on freeing her, the coldness, the dark, it all seemed to be crushing down on her. She could almost feel the clawed hands resting on her shoulders once more.

"Takato defeated you, you're dead!" She shouted.

_Laughter_

The Digimon cackled wildly at hearing her stammer, even spreading open its wings and throw out its hands in a mocking way, almost as if it were putting itself on display to prove the fact that it was very much alive.

"That _boy_ only managed to slow me down. True, his pest of a partner did manage to absorb a great deal of my data, and it has taken me quite some time to recover," pausing, the Digimon smirked.

"But he's not here to save you this time, is he?"

Calming her face as best she could, she reached for her D-Arc with one hand, and her modifier cards with the other.

"Now why go and waste your time fighting? You know that you are no match for me, and that we are destined to become partners. It is inevitable."

The girls face went from somewhat frightened to a scowl.

"A good friend taught me that we make our _own_ destiny's. And I chose to make one without _you_," she hissed.

The Digimon shook its head as though it were trying to explain something to a very young child.

"We've done this dance before my dear, remember? You couldn't beat me then, you can't beat me now. And, if I'm not mistaken, the idiot who saved you last time we fought is…preoccupied, am I correct?"

"_What!? But how?! How could it know that Takato's on a date with her?!"_

Seeing her shocked expression, the Digimon's grin only grew even larger.

"Surprised? My dear, I am a Digimon, I have access to _everything_ digital. Every security camera, every computer, everything. Why do you think I chose to Bio-emerge here of all places? It's as isolated as you can get, and as far away from the fool as can be."

Hearing the insult to Takato, a piece of her resolve returned. She was still afraid, that was true. But she, and every other member of the Tamer's knew just how powerful her anger could be.

"Don't. Insult. Takato," she ordered.

The Digimon laughed again.

"Oh, touch a nerve did I? Good, let me see you anger, show me your true power! The power that will be mine when I destroy your pathetic excuse of a partner and take its place!"

"_Don't let your anger control you, remember what Takato said, anger is what created Megidramon. I have to stay in control."_

Pulling two cards from her deck clip, and holding them between her middle and index fingers with her right hand, she crossed it with her right arm that held her D-Arc in front of her body, like she was hugging herself.

Though her face was shadowed by her hair, and her voice was soft, it gained strength and intensity with each word spoken.

"First you insulted me, then you insulted my partner, and then you insulted Takato. I wouldn't care if you were Machinedramon right now, no one gets away with that!"

Looking up at the Digimon, her eyes flashed with anger as she slid the first card though her D-Arc.

"DIGIMODIFY! MATRIX DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"

The words 'Matrix Digivolution' appeared across the black screen of her D-Arc as waves of stored Digital energy surged out to her partner.

Her partner smirked at the soon to be doomed Digimon. She was the only one that knew just how bad her Tamer's temper truly was, and the consequences of anyone who dared to insult Takato in her presence.

Feeling the data burst course through her, she closed her eyes as she felt her body changing. The skin tearing away, her very core being charged with power. Muscles grew and tendons stretched, but the pain was familiar, and it was nothing compared to the pain that she would soon be inflecting.

Finally, feeling that her transformation was complete, she tore through the cocoon of data with a burst of power. Charged and reborn, ready to fight.

"Last time, you caught me by surprise, and manipulated me when I was unsure of myself. But this time…this time YOU WILL PAY!" The girls voice echoed through the tunnels like a judges gavel.

Judgment had been cast.

It wasn't until now that the Digimon realized just what it had unleashed on itself. But before it could even move, its eyes focused on the remaining card in the young girl's hand, and widened in fear.

"DIGIMODIFY! OMNIMON'S TRANSCENDENT SWORD ACTIVATE!"

Holding out her right arm, the girl's partner felt another surge of data flow through her as WarGreymon's head encased her raised hand like a Chromedigizoid gauntlet. Then, with a flourish she swung it out to her side as the holy blade emerged.

The girl looked at the Digimon with eyes of pure malice and hate, hate that had be awakened from the insults at both her partner, and the boy who had saved her in more ways then one, hate that had simmered and built up from four years worth of nightmares and sleepless nights.

With a voice colder than death itself, she spoke only three words.

They would be the last three words that LadyDevimon would ever hear.

"Antylamon destroy her."

End chapter 1

AN: FOOLED YOU! It wasn't Rika that **this** chapter starred, but the unassuming Suzie Wong! That's right readers; I gave her a little case of the crushes on Takato in this series! I wanted to completely redesign Suzie from the ground up, make her into a true Tamer and not some sideline cheerleader as is the case with the cannon series and is in most fannon. Now, I know that some of the parts in here might not have made sense, but they are not random or misprints. Rika has stepped down from her rank of Digimon Queen, and Suzie is the new holder of the title, but only the title. Rika is, and always will be the true Digimon Queen. As for what the heck was going on here with Suzie and LadyDevimon, that's for another story I have in mind. Hope you liked it, and hope that I got you with the ending! If you check back, I never once referred to her, her partner, OR LadyDevimon by name until the very end. That was to trick you readers into a lull and not see what was really going on. I suggest you go back and reread this with Suzi in mind and not Rika. Remember, MY Suzie is not the same as cannon Suzie.

So? Liked it? Hated it? Enjoyed it? Drop a review and let me know. Oh, and if it's possible, please describe your face and/or reaction when you saw the last line. I get a kick out of surprising people. *grins*

Till next time, Ja Ne!


	2. His Duty

His Duty

AN: Well it looks like I managed to accomplish my mission last chapter and bamboozled several readers. Good! That means I haven't lost my touch. That was the only chapter that will be a 'major' shock; the rest will have normal structure and actually have the people's names being used instead of the flood of pronouns for the most part. As for who 'she' in the previous chapter was, all I'll say is that the events of this series of story's take place AFTER the other Digimon fics I have posted. That's the only hint I'm giving! Now, I had two requests come through so far, and I figured, what the heck, why not combine them into one chapter?Also, if I haven't replied to your review yet, just be patient, I WILL get to them, I'm just in a bit of a bind (curse you Netzero!) and some 'features' are being uncooperative. So, without further ado, I proudly present chapter two!

Watching the battle from what he considered being a suitable distance; Ryo smirked as he watched the battle unfold. It didn't take a genius to see that the actual fight was already over, but he was still taking mental notes on the others progress.

"Darkness Claw!"

Beelzemon's clawed hand pierced Digitamamon's hard shell effortlessly, just as he had expected. Second's later, the digimon was reduced to a cloud of data which Beelzemon happily uploaded.

That made Ryo frown.

"_Even after all this time, why is he still obsessed with absorbing data? He can't get any stronger than he already is."_

"How did I do Akiyama Sensei?"

Ryo blinked, and then looked down to see Ai's hopeful expression. She was biting her lip and scuffing the ground with her right foot, but she at least looking him in the face, and not at the ground this time, which was an improvement.

Chuckling nervously, Ryo shook his head.

"I told you Ai; you don't have to call me that, I'm not _that_ old. Besides, you should be able to tell how well you did by now."

The girls head tilted to the side slightly, and her expression became somewhat crestfallen, causing Ryo to sigh.

"You did good Ai; I didn't mean to come across like that. I'm guess I'm just still kind of new to the whole teaching thing."

The young girl instantly perked at hearing the older Tamer's praise.

"Thank you Akiyama Sensei!" The young girl shouted cheerfully before running back to her shared partner Impmon.

"Impmon! Impmon! Did you hear what Akiyama sensei said!? We did great!"

Ryo chuckled at the young girls antics. Never in a million years would he have guessed that this was how he would be spending his weekends. Back just a few weeks ago, if asked his opinion on the matter he would have been the first to admit being somewhat skeptical about training the young girl and her brother. It wasn't because they were too young; the twins were only a bit younger than they had been when they fought the D-Reaper. He just felt somewhat uncomfortable with the responsibility of teaching two _very_ energetic children that had a knack for getting into trouble.

"_Still, they are getting better. Mako is by far the more aggressive of the two, but at least he doesn't let his confidence go to his head. He just needs to be a bit less dependent on modifier cards, Beelzemon has more than enough power on his own….hmm, I wonder if that's the reason he keeps uploading data even after all these years? Is Impmon afraid that Mako thinks he's weak?"_

"Ryo, can we get some ice cream? Please?!" Mako's begging pleas shook him from his thoughts.

Smirking at the boy, Ryo almost felt bad for what was about to happen.

"Mako! It's rude to call somebody by their first name like that! Mama always says to be respectful to your elders!" Ai shouted with her hands on her hips, adopting a stance that was eerily similar to a certain fiery redhead compatriot of his.

The humor of the situation however was not quite enough to stop the small twitch of Ryo's eyebrow.

"_Why does she keep insisting on calling me Sensei? And what does she mean by 'elders'?"_

"Alright, we'll get ice cream, but you two have to promise to behave yourselves this time," Ryo said with an older brother tone.

The two kids stopped arguing with each other and looked sheepishly.

"It's not our fault, really! That old lady really did look like a Vilemon!" Mako defended.

"Yeah! How were we supposed to be able to tell the difference?" Ai added.

It took every ounce of self control he had to stop himself from breaking down into a fit of laughter. Right now he was still the 'teacher' and he had to do his best to set a good example for the two.

"_Now if only Takato would do his part and act his age, this would be so much easier,"_ Ryo though wistfully.

"Well then, tell me, why didn't you try using your D-Arc? If it had been a Vilemon it would have told you wouldn't it?" Ryo asked with a raised eyebrow.

The two kids looked at each other, then back to the older boy with hung heads.

"Sorry Ryo," Mako started.

"We forgot about that," Ai finished.

Seeing that they _were_ sorry, he decided to cut them just a little bit of slack.

This time.

"Just be more careful in the future ok? Ai, what is the most important thing to remember about fighting a digimon?"

The young girl tapped her chin in thought for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"A Tamer and its partner should never fight an unknown!"

Ryo's smile grew at hearing the young girl repeat the phrase he had drilled into them for the first two days of training.

"That's right Ai, fighting an unknown is dangerous. If you don't know what you are fighting, then you are ten times more likely to get into trouble fighting it. Mako, what should you do if you find yourself fighting an unknown?"

The young boy's expression became slightly sour at hearing the question.

"Get away from it if you can and wait for help. If you can't get away then be as careful as you can," he replied with a monotone voice.

"And?" Ryo asked, pushing for the younger boy to continue.

"Pay attention to every little detail because you never know what might be useful. I still don't see why that's important. If you're strong enough, stuff like that doesn't matter! Just look at Takato!"

Ryo sighed in exasperation.

"Takato is the exception, not the rule. And even he knows the value of being careful, paying attention to detail, and not getting in over his head."

Mako's face scrunched.

"What do you mean getting in over his head? He's never lost a fight before has he? And what about all those weird digimon that were falling from the sky? He took them out with one attack!" Mako defended.

Ryo smirked at the boy's argument. While for the most part sound, it did have a few holes in it.

"_I happen to know for a fact that Takato has lost at least _one_ fight,"_ Ryo thought smugly at the memory of his friend running for his life through the park being chased by a very angry Rika.

Seeing the twins smirking at the thought of having finally beaten the Legendary Tamer at an argument, a feat that only one other person had accomplished (his own mother), Ryo shook his head.

"That was not the result of blind luck or raw strength Mako, it was his determination to win and protect…those he cares about, that gave him that power. The same power that protected me when Rika gave me Sakuyamon's energy when we fought the D-Reaper. It takes a balance of determination to win, knowing what you are doing, and having the right tools available to you."

Remembering exactly how his friend ended up _not_ dying on that day back in the park however, Ryo decided to make one amendment.

"Of course, luck isn't a bad thing to have, just don't depend on it."

"Yes Akiyama Sensei," the twins replied in unison. This of course annoyed Ryo, but only a little.

"_I guess I'd better just get used to it. It's not really all that bad."_

"Alright, let's go get some ice cream, you two did well today, but don't think that this will be an everyday thing alright?"

"YEAH!" Ai squealed.

"ICE CREAM!" Mako shouted.

"Hey! Don't you go fo'getten bout me you hear!" Impmon said hopping onto of Cyberdramon's shoulder.

"Alright you overgrown weirdo of a salamander, MUSH!" Impmon 'ordered' the armor clad destroyer, prompting a growl of irritation.

With a completely deadpan expression, Ryo turned up to the small digimon.

"You do realize that I won't stop him if he tries to hurt you for doing that right?"

Impmon's grin just grew even larger.

"Don worry bout it Ryo my man, me and helmet head here are good pals, isn't that right?"

Cybredramon responded by flicking the purple nuisance off his shoulder with one of his wings and started lumbering towards where he knew they would be going.

They _had_ gone to the same ice cream parlor every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for the last five weeks in a row after all.

"Hey! I was just talk'n about what a good friend you are then you go and flick me off like a booger! I don't think so! Bada!"

Before he could say 'boom' Cyberdramon looked over his shoulder and growled.

"Uh…great pose there, love the look…uh…can we get ice cream now?" Impmon squeaked as though his bandana had suddenly shrunk around his neck.

Ai and Mako cheered while Ryo chuckled as the five walked off towards their destination.

End chapter 2

Well, this was my first shot at the big guy, Ryo. He's very difficult to write as he borderlines Gary Stuness, but has just enough to keep him from crossing that fine line. Added to that, I don't really like him due to him being a 'threat' to my ship. Still, I pride myself on NOT bashing characters I don't like, and actually trying even harder to make them likeable to readers as well as being as fair to their cannon selves as humanly possible. Ai and Mako are pretty much blank slates, as they were never given much in the way of air time in the series, so I decided to make my own up as I went. Being that Suzie is a 'Rika in the making' and that Jeri will have a very unique personality (not a bad one mind you, just different), I wanted to round out my character list by having at least ONE girly girl in the cast. One important thing though is that I tried to incorporate a bit of Impmon's character into his two Tamers. This is because in the world of Tamers, the human and its partner are supposed to be similar, hence Ai and Mako's stubborn streak.

Nolaquen265, I hope I did Ryo justice with this first attempt at his character. If I didn't, then I will gladly accept any suggestions you have to offer. Also, Bookworm Gal, I hope you liked my renditions of Ai, Mako and Impmon!

So, liked it? Hated it? Let me know what you thought! I know this chapter was a bit short, but I didn't want to push it beyond what it really was, a first shot at some characters I'm learning to write. As I said in the last chapter, I'm accepting requests for who you guys and girls want to see in future chapters. Can't guarantee they'll be in the next chapter, but I'll try to get them out eventually.

That's all for now! Till next time, Ja Ne!


	3. Dream a Little Nightmare

Dream a little Nightmare

AN: Got a message the other day, and wasn't quite sure how to respond to it. I know that I'm not exactly doing anything 'big' at the moment, but that's because I'm taking my time to establish myself, and let readers familiarize themselves with my versions of the characters before moving onto anything major. However, I wanted to assure the individual that sent said message, as well as the rest of my readers (including the ones that don't review) that I do actually have something in the works and am not all talk. So, here I am, 'tipping my hand' to give you all a peak at what's to come. This chapter will feature one main character, along with several lesser, one of which is a personal favorite of mine who is rarely ever written due to…unique difficulties they entail. Enjoy!

"Henry!"

Skidding to a stop, the boy scanned the area around him, trying to find the source of the voice that had been calling out to him for what seemed like hours.

"_I don't like this. Where is everybody?"_

Before him was the city of Shinjuku, a place he had come to know very well in his life. But instead of the bristling with life city he had come to know and love, it was dead silent, completely empty.

Almost like a graveyard.

It reminded him of the stories his Grandfather used to tell him about Hiroshima, how a city could be standing as it always had, but at the same time, be completely dead, devoid of any living thing.

"Henry!"

Turning on his heels, Henry saw movement running down a dark alley across the street from him.

"_Who was that? And why is that voice so familiar?"_

That was the main thing that troubled him. It wasn't just some random voice calling out to him, it was one he knew, one he had heard before, but he couldn't remember where for the life of him.

Tired of running around in circles, and determined to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on, Henry charged across the street and down the alley after the person.

_Beep chirp beep chirp beep chirp_

"_What? A wild one? Here? Now!?"_

Checking his surroundings, Henry looked for the telltale sign of a Bio-emergence, but the strange reddish grey sky was empty, not even a single cloud, let alone a bio field.

"_I know Shinjuku's sewer network doesn't run through here, so it can't be underground either. So where is it?"_

"Henry! Please! I need your help!"

Gnashing his teeth, Henry ran towards the dark alley, hoping that he wasn't too late, and that he would be able to help at all.

"_No Hypnos, no Terriermon, no Takato, no Rika! Where is everybody!? It's like they all just disappeared!"_

Coming out the other side of the alley, Henry found himself standing in front of the school, but something was off about it, it didn't look right.

Looking over the building with a cautious eye, Henry noted that it seemed smaller than usual. The south wing was missing completely, and the student's parking lot was a sand covered baseball field.

"_Now I know something is wrong, but why does this still seem so familiar?"_

Looking down at his D-Arc, Henry saw that the arrow was pointing directly at the school. Exactly _not_ what he wanted to see given the circumstances at the moment.

"So whatever it is, it's inside the school…at least it can't be anything too big then," Henry mused as he jogged towards the familiar, yet different building. Opening the double doors, his mind reminded him that when it came to digimon, size did not always equate power. As two of the four Dark Master's had been human sized, and that out of the Tamer's, he was the only one who was actually 'super sized' as a Mega.

He was torn, half of him wanted to go inside, but the other half told him to make a run for it, bolt, get as far away from the building as possible. Something was very wrong here, the air itself felt sick, cold almost despite it being the middle of summer.

"Henry!"

"_I have to try, if I don't, then I'll never know."_ Steeling his resolve, the teen entered the building, but was careful to close the door behind him as quietly as possible. The only sound made was a soft, barely audible 'click'.

Checking his D-Arc, he saw that it was still pointing in the same direction, directly straight ahead.

"_Terriermon, where are you!?"_ Henry thought ruefully. His partner, despite lacking any tact or presence of mind when it came to delicate matters, would have been a Godsend right about now. The tension in the air was literally choking him, and he didn't like the idea of going up against ANY Wild One's without his partner.

The red arrow turned, now pointing to the left, which he knew was towards the computer lab.

"_Great, just when I didn't think it could get any worst. I just hope that whatever it is, it's friendly."_

Thinking back to his own personal experiences however, and the fact that aside from Calumon, the only 'friendly' Bio emergences had been the Tamer's partners, he felt his nerves twinge.

Moving quickly, but in a quiet stealthily manner that even Renamon would have been proud of, Henry reached the last door in the hall. Behind him, something flickered, but as soon as he turned it vanished.

"_Why do I get the feeling that I'm not alone…something's here…something…bad."_

Taking a calming breath, Henry eased open the door to the computer lab slightly.

What he saw made his eyes widen.

The computer lab was nearly barren, almost completely empty. Instead of row after row of computers humming with life, there was only a single small table in the middle of the room with a computer on it facing towards the door.

At first nothing happened, but then he saw the computer flicker to life, and the cursor on the screen flashed. It then started moving, as though someone were typing.

Easing himself into the room, Henry made his way over to the computer, feeling less and less at ease with every step he took.

"_Something…no…not a thing, some_one_ is here, I can feel it."_

Reaching the computer, Henry was puzzled by its apparent age, as it didn't fit with the normal school hardware at all.

"_This thing is almost as old as I am. Do they even make computers like this anymore?"_

His attention was then pulled to the message on the screen. He saw that only three letters had been typed, but the message was not a welcome one.

R U N

Spinning on his heels and ready to bolt, Henry found his path to the exit blocked by a familiar figure.

A very familiar figure.

"It's you?" Henry choked out, lifting his hand towards the person whose voice he now remembered so clearly.

"Please, Henry, help me."

Despite hearing the voice, he noticed that the person's lips had not moved at all. This set off alarms in his mind that even a rampaging Mega couldn't.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Henry demanded as he dropped into a defensive stance. The person might not have done anything openly hostile, but the fact remained that they were between him and the exit.

"Help! Please Henry!"

The person's head slowly rose and their eyes met his.

At that very moment, Henry felt his stomach drop into his feet.

"**You should have run when you had the chance,"** an eerily distorted, and unfortunately, very familiar voice said calmly.

The person's skin changed from a pale white color to an almost pasty ash grey, and their hands became longer, almost like talons.

"**You will not escape me this time Henry Wong."**

That was all the warning he got before they attacked. Henry dodged the first swipe, and deflected the follow up strike, but he didn't see the lightning fast snap kick that his assailant threw in after it.

Thrown back several feet from the force of the blow, Henry scrambled back onto his feet.

This was not a fight he could win, and he knew it.

"**Why are you running? I thought you wanted to help me?"** It mocked.

Sidestepping to avoid the now growing creatures attack, Henry smirked as its hand crashed through the screen of the computer, shocking it with a fair amount of voltage.

"Guess you're still not quite invincible yet huh?" Henry taunted as he relaxed his stance into a more mobile one.

One that would let him run when the chance presented itself.

The creature roared with pain as it pulled its hand free, showering the room with sparks, glass and wires.

"**Mark my words boy, you will pay for the suffering you caused me! You'll regret not finishing me off when you had the chance!"**

The creature tried to lunge at him again, but it was stopped in mid step, almost as if something was holding it back.

"Henry! Please run! I can't hold her for long! You have to get away from here!"

Not seeing anyone in the room, but not willing to question something that was trying to help him, Henry bolted for the door.

"**I'm not through with you yet! I will destroy you eventually! I will have my revenge, and I will not be denied my destiny!"**

Henry pushed every ounce of strength he had left into his legs. Hearing the creature gaining on him, but not about to look back, Henry did the only other thing he could.

"Terriermon! Help!"

"Please Henry, you have to get out of here! If you don't, we'll both die!" The familiar voice from before called out in desperation.

Bolting up like he had been stung, Henry looked around the pitch black darkness that was his room.

"Henry? Are you ok?"

Still trying to calm his breathing, Henry looked down to see his visibly worried partner tugging on his pajama pants.

"Terriermon, thank Kami," Henry said under his breath as he slouched forward onto his desk.

"Henry, what happened?" Terriermon asked, still worried that something was wrong.

The youth shook his head and let out a sigh of relief. Leaning back into his chair, he turned to look down at his partner.

"Nothing Terriermon, it was just a bad dream."

The rabbit dog shot him a disbelieving look before shrugging and walking away.

"Pretty strange for you to be calling out my name in your sleep like that Henry. I think Suzie's right, you're going to fry your brain if you don't get off that computer more often," Terriermon said with his usual sing-a-song taunting voice.

Henry chuckled at his friends concern, but he appreciated it all the same.

Running his hands through his now sweat slicked hair, Henry groaned.

"Great, I got more of a workout in that dream then I get in gym class," Henry said sarcastically, even though the room was now empty.

Flicking on the lights in the apartments bathroom, Henry turned the faucet to warm and filled the sink.

"_That's the third time this week. Why can't I just sleep in peace?"_ The boy wondered as he filled his hands with water, and wiped his face. Blinking, he noticed something very strange about the water in the sink. Something was in it that shouldn't have been.

A trickle of red.

Checking the mirror closely, he couldn't see any blood on his face, but when he reached up to push back his hair, he found the source.

A small thin cut that ran down the length of his arm.

"_What the? How did that get there?"_

Flashes from the dream floated across his vision, skipping to fight.

When he deflected the second attack, one of the creatures claw like fingers had grazed his skin.

"_That's not possible; a dream can't hurt you…can it?"_

Pulling up the drain block in the sink, Henry cleaned the cut and covered it with some bandage tape, figuring that he must have cut his arm on the corner of his desk, and went to bed.

His computer, having been forgotten, still hummed with life. Its screen displaying a newspaper clipping dated June sixth, nineteen eighty four.

**Mysterious disappearance from local school leaves authorities baffled.**

Below was the picture of a young pale skinned girl with light blond hair and blue eyes. The caption next to the picture read: Alice McCoy.

AN: Oh yeah, I aint through messing around with your heads yet. My big fic will tie into this, but for now, just hints, hints, and more evil hints lol. Wonder if anyone will be able to guess at whom or what it was that attacked Henry? It's not something of my creation I assure you, it's from the show. I hope you enjoyed my first real attempt at writing Henry, and that it wasn't OOC or in bad taste. I love good mysteries, and I try to incorporate that into my work.

Like it? Loved it? Hated it? Let me know! I'm trying to write all the characters at least a bit, but if there is someone that you guys/girls want to see, ask for them! I'll get to them eventually!

Till next time, Ja Ne!


	4. The Lady of the Lake?

The Lady of the Lake?

AN: The title might sound a bit strange at first, but it will make sense by the end of the chapter….I hope. Anyways, I've gotten a few more requests; surprisingly I got a large number (read as four) for Jeri, which beats any other character so far. So, here she is, for the first time by RGZ Archer, Jeri Katou! Oh, and three guest stars as well, along with the final 'Nemesis' I intend to write other than the one in my 'big' fic, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment.

Stopping for a moment, Jeri tried to catch her breath.

"_I knew these books were big, but I didn't think they were THIS heavy,"_ Jeri thought with a huff. She might be stronger now than she had been a few years back, but she certainly wasn't 'buff.'

The years since the Tamer's had become 'official' had been very kind to her, filling her out very well considering her age. And while she didn't mind the occasional glances sent her way, she didn't exactly care about them either. Gone was the shy little girl that hid behind a sock puppet (though she did still have it). In her place was a willowy, long haired teen with a sharp mind and a cruel right hook (according to her Pencak Silat instructor).

"Hey! Jeri!"

Knowing who the voice belonged to; Jeri smiled as she turned to her friends.

"Ai, Mako," Jeri said, nodding at the two youngest members of the Tamers. Then looking between the two, she saw what looked like a walking pile of toys and clothes.

"Impmon," she managed to say before giggling.

"Hey! Whose dare!? Show y'a self!" The pile 'ordered' threateningly.

Stepping closer to the pile, Jeri peeked around the side of the mountain of 'stuff' the two kids had somehow purchased and came face to face with the little purple imp.

"Hello Impmon, are you alright?" She asked with a slightly teasing voice.

Impmon's face became desperate.

"Youse gotta help me out here toots, they're trying to crush me with all their junk!"

'Impmon! It's not junk! Those are for the spring! I can't wear winter clothes in the spring, it's too hot!" Ai defended.

"But why did youse have to buy three pairs of shoes!?" Impmon said, somewhere between pouting and pleading.

"You could always digivolve, that would make it easier wouldn't it?" Mako asked innocently.

The small digimon's face went from desperate to smug.

"Nu uh, fools me once, shame on you, fools me twice, shame on me. I aint falling for that again. I get bigger, the pile gets bigger too."

Jeri smiled as she watched the Tamer's with their shared partner. It had taken her over a year just to tolerate the three of them, but now she couldn't imagine not having them around.

It had hurt her deeply, the loss of Leomon, and she doubted that she would every completely heal from it. Still, she didn't want to blame Impmon for what he had done at the time, not after he had tried to save her from the D-Reaper. But it still hurt to see him. Every time she did, those few seconds of memory would play through her mind over and over. Not wanting to come off as mean, jaded or cold to his partners, she had resolved herself to simply avoid them, better they not see her at all than her brush them off right?

Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your point of view) she had underestimated the little purple digimon's resolve, and his desire to apologize to her.

A week after the D-Reaper incident, she found a paper Dixie cup with flowers on her nightstand, with a crude card made out of construction paper and crayons.

She didn't throw it away, but she did toss it into the bottom of a shoebox at the time. She didn't want to hurt him, but at the same time, just seeing him was enough to make her feel that she was losing her grip and about to fall apart.

A few days later, she found a small box of chocolates (half of which had been eaten) and another apology card. She understood Impmon's desire to apologize, but she just wanted some alone time, time to grieve, time to hurt. She would never be able to repay Takato for his help those first few months especially.

This was the way things went for several months. She would find some small offering, sometimes it would be a flower, sometimes it was candy, and sometimes it would be a toy of some sort, but they would always be somewhere in her home that she would be sure to find it, and they were always accompanied by a card. Then, just as suddenly as they had started, they stopped appearing. Jeri continued on like nothing had every happened, and Impmon seemed to have picked up the hint and kept his distance.

A week before the one year anniversary of the D-Reaper incident however, was when things changed.

She had noticed that Takato had been strangely quiet that day, Henry had glanced at her nervously two or three times, and Rika…

Rika was her usual calm self, nothing different to notice.

She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but when the final bell rang she was surprised to find that none of the Tamer's were outside waiting for her as the usually did. Though they didn't all live near each other, they did walk home together, going as far as their respective homes before bidding the others farewell.

But this time, she was alone.

Or so she thought.

Standing in the middle of sidewalk without showing even the slightest hint of worry was Beelzemon leaning against his ride, the Behemoth.

**Flashback**

"Jeri, we need t'a talk."

Feeling that she was not slipping back into 'that' place in her mind, and that she had enough mental and emotional strength to deal with the matter now, Jeri stood her ground.

"What do you want?" She asked flatly.

Shaking his head, Beelzemon stepped to the side and held his hands towards his ride. "Not here, in private."

Jeri swallowed the lump in her throat. She knew that he meant her no harm, she knew that he was one of the 'good guys' but his face, his voice, they still hurt her.

"I…I don't want to talk to you…" she said hoarsely, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Ne'der do I, but we need to. This….this needs to end. Please Jeri." It had surprised her just how much pain was in his voice, she could tell that this was something that was really bothering him, and that he not only wanted to, but that he genuinely needed to do this.

Nodding her head, she stepped up to him.

"What do I…what do I need to do?" She asked, eyeing the machine warily. Impmon might be on their side, but she knew full well that the Behemoth had a mind of its own.

"Don worry bout it, she's tamed now. Wont cause you or anybody else no trouble," he said climbing onto his ride and moving forward, giving her a place to sit.

Stepping closer to the motorcycle, she climbed behind him and carefully grabbed onto his shoulders for support.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Tamer's watching from a respectful distance. Not close enough to be noticed, but close enough for her to know that they were there for her if she needed them.

**Flashback end**

To this day, neither one of them had told a soul what they said to each other, or even where they had gone. But everyone noticed the gradual shift in how Jeri reacted to the little troublemaker afterwards. At first she would tense up to his presence, then she would just keep her eyes on him, and finally, she started to treat him like she did the other digimon. She was still a bit distant towards him, but she was never openly cold.

She had asked him at one point why it was he wanted to make up with her so badly, but he surprised her when he replied that he didn't know, he just 'had to' and couldn't not do it.

Since then, then two had become…oddly close. Impmon was unusually protective of her, and had developed an uncanny sixth sense for when something was bothering her, or when she wasn't feeling well. It was strange the bond that they shared. They weren't exactly friends, but at the same time they weren't 'partners'. The closest anyone had ever been able to peg it was a strange quasi big brother little sister relationship.

"Hey Jeri, what are those? They look heavy." Mako stated as he poked the stack of books Jeri was carrying curiously, snapping Jeri back into reality.

Laughing, Jeri smiled. "They're anatomy and medical textbooks Mako, I ordered them a while back and they just came in. They're not _too_ heavy…" Turning towards Impmon, Jeri grinned playfully. "But I sure wouldn't mind if someone helped me carry them," she said sweetly.

Impmon looked like he wanted to cry.

"Aw come on Jeri, youse can't do's that to me! No! No! Not the puppy dog eyes, please I'm begging ya!"

_Beep chirp beep chirp beep chirp_

Ai pulled up her D-Arc, as did Jeri.

"It's close…that's weird, the signal keeps moving around, how is that even possible?" Ai asked nobody in particular.

_Chirp chirp chirp chirp chrip_

Pulling out her 'gift' from Shibumi, Jeri frowned when she saw the name that appeared on the small plasma screen.

"Yes?"

"Jeri? You need to get out of there, NOW! Take Ai and Mako with you, and get as far away from the mall as you can. Takato and Ryo should be there shortly, but until they arrive you need to get out of there!" Riley shouted, stunning Jeri, Ai, Mako and even Impmon.

"Riley, what's wrong? What's going on?" Jeri asked, putting her special phone on speaker as she stated moving quickly towards the nearest exit. She knew that if Takato _and_ Ryo had been contacted, that they weren't taking any chances.

Fire alarms and sprinklers throughout the mall went off, drowning the people into a state of mass pandemonium.

"A level ten wild one is about to bioemerge, we've activated the fire systems to evacuate the people." As Riley spoke, a deep rumbling laugh could be heard echoing throughout the mall's speakers.

Ai and Mako shivered, but they still kept pace with Jeri.

"That sounded like…the Shinigami," Mako muttered under his breath as they reached the exits.

"Mako, look out!" Jeri shouted, pulling the boy back just as the security gate slammed down where he would have been.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my old friend Beelzemon."

Impmon's face scrunched up. Thinking back he tried to remember where he had heard that voice before, but he couldn't put a face with the laugh. It didn't sound even remotely familiar as far as he could tell.

"Come on out here and fight me like a mon youse coward!" Impmon challenged.

Pulling the earpiece from the bottom of her phone, Jeri popped it into her ear.

"Riley, we're trapped. Whatever this thing is, it's controlling the security systems. Can you hack them remotely?" Jeri asked looking around for the telltale sign of a biofield.

"Negative, we tired that but it back hacked into our systems. Yamaki had to shut down the computer core to prevent it from taking over. We're down to wireless communication systems only on this end."

Tapping the switch on her earpiece, Jeri took a calming breath.

"I'm sending a live feed. It's not much, but it's all I can do."

Jeri could hear the technicians' fingers flying across her keyboard for a moment before she responded.

"Roger, we're picking up your signal. Can you get a lock on the Wild One?" Riley asked in her usual business tone.

Looking down at her D-Arc, Jeri frowned in worry. The red arrow was spinning wildly, never staying still for longer than a second at best, but the lack of a signal lock told her that it wasn't anywhere nearby.

"No, whatever it is, it's doing a good job of hiding itself."

"It's probably in the main network, possibly the power systems."

Jeri's eyes narrowed slightly at hearing Yamaki's voice. If he was listening in on the line, then she knew it was more than a simple Wild One.

"_They did something, they must have. Are they trying to make Yugoth work again or something?"_

"Did you…try to intercept this one?" Jeri asked carefully.

"That information is none of your concern," came Yamaki's swift reply.

"_He wouldn't say that if they hadn't…but why didn't he just tell us that from the start? Someone else must be there, that's the only reason he would respond like that."_ Those thoughts however brought her to another realization.

This was not a normal Wild One they were dealing with.

"_Something must have happened. They tried to destroy it, or they tried to prevent it from bioemerging, but something happened…."_

Jeri's eyes widened.

"It adapted!"

Ai and Mako looked up at her nervously.

"What? It was adopted? Like it's got a partner or something?" Mako asked confused.

Shaking her head, Jeri grabbed Ai with one hand and Mako with the other and pulled them away from the now sealed exit.

"No, something's wrong, we need to get away from here," Jeri said almost in a panic. She remembered full well the various horrors that had emerged whenever Hypnos tried its hand at dealing with Wild Ones.

Digimon were computer code. Everyone knew that. But since they were sentient, they also had the ability to rewrite their data if they were powerful enough. When someone on the outside tried to mess with their data, they would sometimes alter themselves to avoid whatever effects the individual attempted to do to it.

"Running away? Just like you Beelzemon. Only fighting when you have the advantage, never having the guts to fight someone stronger than you. You're pathetic."

Jeri could hear Impmon's hardened breathing. She knew that whoever this was, they were getting to him.

"Impmon, don't let him get to you like that. He's trying to make you angry," Jeri said as calmly as she could, given the circumstances.

"Well he's doing a badda boom of a job," Impmon said between breaths.

Reaching to food court, Jeri heard Yamaki's voice over her earpiece.

"Stop! Jeri, the food court is the one place in the building with no computerized equipment. If you stay there, you'll have a better chance of delaying the bioemergence. Try to goad it into talking, do whatever you can to keep it busy until help arrives."

Nodding her head, Jeri knelt down to Impmon and whispered in his ear.

"Huh? Eh, youse sure that's a good idea toots? What if it just makes em madder?"

Hearing the half crazed laugh echoing through the malls speaker system, Jeri raised an eyebrow.

"Meh, good point," Impmon said before clearing his throat.

"Hey! I don't know who's you are buddy, but for someone who talks big, you sure don't act it. I might have picked on a lotta wimps back in my day, but at least I DID the picking myself! I didn't get no stinkin human computer to do no work for ME!"

"Oh? You're one to judge. A Mega picking fights with helpless Rookies and Champions? Why dear me mister pot, your friend the kettle would like a few words with you," the voice replied sarcastically.

Impmon smirked. He might not be the strongest or the smartest digimon around, but, like each of the Tamer's partners, he had his choice battle ground.

And whoever this Wild One was, he had just stepped onto Impmon's home turf.

Smack talk

"You know, youse right. Still, I think I knowse where ya coming from bub."

Seeing Impmon's grin, Jeri knew that he was about to shove a preverbal 'hot poker' up this Wild One's backside.

"After all, if youse face is half as ugly as that voice o yours buddy, I'd be scared o coming out too, cause I might see my reflection!"

Ai frowned, Jeri smirked and Mako snickered.

"RAAAHHHH! I will destroy you and avenge my hive!"

The already frightened mall goers were now near hysterical. Sparks of electricity flew everywhere as the ceiling literally exploded.

"What the heck is that?!" Mako shouted over the noise of falling debris.

"Impmon! Look out!"

Before he knew what has happening, Impmon felt a surge of power flow through him.

"DIGIMODIFY! WARP DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!" Ai shouted as she slid her prized modifier card through her D-Arc.

Dark purple and golden light engulfed Impmon into an eggshell of data. Less than a second later, Beelzemon emerged from the exploding shell of data and blocked the Wild One's attack with his arm guards.

Looking down at her D-Arc, Jeri felt her blood run cold.

"_But…there was no biofield…how is that possible? How could….wait a minute, if it materialized on its own like that, and it didn't generate a biofield, then than means!"_

"Diaboromon, Virus type, Mega level. This isn't good, he's got more attacks than Sakuyamon," Ai said nervously.

Comparing the image on her D-Arc with the digimon before them, Jeri felt her mouth twist into a scowl. They looked similar, but they were nowhere the same.

The Diaboromon before them was dark green not blue, added to that; its arms, legs, and hair were all a bleach white color.

"_Yamaki, what did you do this time?"_

"Buddy, I don't knows who you are, but your going down!" Beelzemon shouted as he pushed off the attacking digimon with a strong heave.

Diaboromon laughed manically as it jumped up onto the support column behind it, and then disappeared into the maze of pillars. Beelzemon sneered as he pulled his dual Berenjena are tried to get a bead on the crazed digimon.

Seeing what he was about to do, and realizing that neither Beelzamon nor his Tamer's had noticed the lack of a biofield, Jeri knew that she had to act fast.

"BEELZEMON STOP!"

Turning to look back at Jeri, he was surprised to see the horrified expression on her face.

"Jeri! He's not your partner, we'll take care of this, and you just keep an eye out for the big ugly!" Mako scolded.

"Mako, are you paying even the least bit of attention to where we are!?" Jeri shouted as she flourished her free arm around them.

Ai and Mako were confused at first, but when their eyes followed her hand, they suddenly felt lower than dirt.

Watching from under tables and behind counters were many frightened people. Most had their eyes screwed shut in fear, but a few of the braver ones were watching them.

"If Beelzemon fires and his attacks miss, then he's going to end up hurting someone. There are too many people in here to risk using ranged attacks," Jeri hissed. Seeing the shamed looks on the twin's faces, she knew that she had gotten through to them, but she still made a mental note about this for later.

"Beelzemon! You can't use the Berenjena!" Mako shouted.

"Melee only Beelzemon!" Ai added.

Realizing the mistake he had almost made, Beelzemon muttered a quick thanks to the Sovereigns as he holstered his weapons.

"Dis aint going to be easy, I need some help here!" Beelzemon shouted as he scanned the area for his quarry.

"CABLE CRUSHER!"

"AHHHHH!"

Beelzemon was slammed into the wall behind him with enough force to leave an impression as he slumped to his knees.

"Ok, that's one for you bub, but I aint outa dis yet. One sucker punch aint gonna do me in!" Beelzemon shouted as he got back onto his feet.

Mako was going through his modifier cards and felt his stomach drop. For the most part, he only had offensive type cards, and he knew that if he used a Power Up to boost his strength and speed, it would Mode Change Beelzemon to his Burst Mode.

"_Yeah, like a bigger gun would do us any good. If he fired that thing in here it would knock a hole in the wall the size of a bus."_

Ai wasn't much better off. The few modifier cards she carried were all defensive or recovery type, nothing that would be of much use here.

"How quant, you decide to grow a conscience just before you die, how interestingly ironic," Diaboromon taunted.

Trying to think of a comeback, Beelzemon was caught off guard when he was tackled from above and pinned to the ground.

"Get off a me you slag spewing Halloween reject!" Beelzemon shouted as he wrapped his tail around Diaboromon's neck and yanked him off.

"DARKNESS CLAW!"

Lunging forward, Beelzemon smirked as he felt his clawed arm break into Diaboromon's data stream.

Then

"AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Diaboromon laughed as he watched his foe wither in pain and agony.

"Like it? It's a little present from your friends. They tried to stop me, but I adapted their programming into myself. It's quite interesting really. It drains your data until you no longer have enough to support your own existence. You become an empty husk, and then are crushed by your own shell," he said before once again laughing.

Beelzemon sank to his knees and continued screaming in pain.

"_This is worst than dhat goop snot of the D-Reapers…I…feel…so…..tired….cant…"_

Everything was fading to black. He was vaguely aware of Diaboromon pulling his hand out of its torso and being thrown into a wall, but the pain coursing through his body made the impact of the wall feel like a tickle.

"Impmon!" Ai and Mako both shouted as they watched their partner's data glitch.

Diaboromon howled with laughter as he approached the fallen digimon. "Now, after all this time, my hive shall be avenged!"

Lifting Beelzemon by his jacket with one hand, Diaboromon flattened his free hand and pulled it back as far as he could.

"That Darkness Claw of yours really did sting a bit; let's see how you like mine, VIRUS DOWNLOAD!"

Diaboromon's free hand shot forward, aimed squarely for Beelzemon's chest.

"IMPMON!"

Watching from the side of the battle, Jeri saw a flash. Beelzemon was no longer Beelzemon, Diaboromon was no longer Diaboromon. In a flash of lightning, Jeri saw the memory that still haunted her to this day, the death of her partner, her friend, and the one whom she had sworn never to forget.

"Leo…mon…"

Tightening the grip on her D-Arc, Jeri's eyes narrowed.

"No, not again, never again!"

Pulling the arm which held her D-Arc back, she snapped it forward like a whip as a tendril of white data shot out and wrapped around Diaboromon's arm, holding it in place just before it could pierce Beelzemon.

Time stopped.

Baring her teeth, Jeri snarled.

"Beelzemon might have done terrible things in the past, but that's just what it is, THE PAST! Who are you to judge and sentence him?!" Jeri shouted as she pulled back with every ounce of strength she had. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep Diaboromon's hand inches away from piercing Beelzemon's prone form.

"He is a pestilence, a scourge to all that exists! You know nothing of what this vile spawn of Vista has done!" Diaboromon sneered.

"I know…far better…than you ever could," Jeri said gritting her teeth as she tried desperately to spar Ai and Mako from going what she herself had suffered.

Cracks started forming in the white band of energy that was holding Diaboromon's hand back, but Jeri's grip remained as strong as ever.

"If you care for him so much, then catch!" Diaboromon shouted as he tossed Beelzemon with his free arm at her.

Her concentration broken, Jeri released her hold on Diaboromon, giving him all the opportunity he needed to get away and jump back up onto the support columns. Jeri herself was then hit with the still unconscious body of Beelzemon.

"Impmon! Impmon! Wake up!" Ai begged.

"Come on, you have to get up Impmon, he's still out there!" Mako pleaded.

Beelzemon's eyes cracked open tiredly as he groaned.

"Any…one….get…da…number…o….that…bus?" He said weakly was his data continued to surge.

Diaboromon's haunting laugh echoed throughout the food quart.

"His time is neigh. Say farewell to the refuse!"

Seeing what was happening before her, she had enough. It was bad enough what she had gone through, but Ai and Mako were even younger than she had been. Seeing their frightened and desperate expressions, Jeri felt something stir in the back of her mind. A memory from long ago.

The happiest day of her life.

She remembered seeing Leomon's injured form land hard on the ground, seeing the pain etched across his face from the white needles imbedded in him as they tired to eat away his data. It had been out of pure instinct that she held out her newly acquired D-Arc, and watched as he was healed instantly back to full strength.

"_The D-Arc's were made to store vast amounts of data,"_ Shibumi's voice echoed.

"_Store…data…stored data can be released…just like we did with Andromon!"_ Jeri realized.

Looking down at her D-Arc, Jeri bit her lip as she held it out towards Beelzemon, and silently prayed that this would work.

"_I know that it can't be much, but I hope there is enough still here, please, help him Leomon!"_

Golden tendrils of data poured out from Jeri's D-Arc into Beelzemon, surging through his data core.

Ai and Mako watched in awe as Beelzemon closed eyes flashed open, no longer their dull red color, but a piercing cobalt blue. His data once again surged as it was enshrouded in a gold and white shell of data.

"NO! My revenge will not be denied by a human!" Diaboromon shouted as he lunged down from his vantage point towards the girl like a homing torpedo.

A deafening lion's roar shook the mall on its foundation.

Diaboromon's hand was stopped less than an inch from Jeri's face.

Opening one eye to see what had stopped the attack that _should_ have ended her life; Jeri felt a surge of hope as she saw that it was a familiar silver blade.

"LEO….mon…" Jeri's eyes grew the size of saucers.

It was Leomon's sword alright, but _not_ Leomon.

Standing beside her, holding the blade which stopped the attack with a reverse hold.

Was Beelzemon.

"Buddy, youse just made t'e biggest and last mistake o your life," Beelzemon said with a deathly serious tone.

Shoving the mutated Diaboromon back with one hand, Beelzemon followed it up with a combination of punishing kicks and vicious slash attacks. Diaboromon tried to counter, but Beelzemon quickly dodged and countered with an even more powerful flurry of slashes

Diaboromon was now completely on the defensive.

Quick to recover, Diaboromon jumped back up into the support columns. Beelzemon might be faster now, but he still couldn't jump as high.

Steeling herself, Jeri moved towards Ai and Mako.

"Ok, we caught him off guard, but we have to act quickly if we want to win this. I have a plan, but I need for you two to do exactly what I say alright?" Jeri asked with her usually calm and collected voice.

Ai and Mako nodded slowly, shocked at how she was taking all this in stride.

"Good, take this, and when I give the signal, use it ok?" Jeri said as she passed the card to Mako, whose eyes widened.

"She wants us to use that?" Mako asked showing the card to his sister, whose eyes widened as well.

Beelzemon was starting to get annoyed. Here he was stuck fighting someone in a tight enclosed area, but he couldn't use his guns. Even more annoying was the fact that he now had a way to actually fight up close and hurt him, but Diaboromon apparently preferred to play hide and seek than outright fight.

"What was dat about only fighting when _I_ had the advantage? Get out here ya yellow belly coward!" Beelzemon roared.

Looking around, he saw Jeri run into the middle of the food court waving her arms.

"Don't worry Beelzemon! I'll use this modifier card; it'll destroy him even if he is hiding!"

That got his attention.

"Then hurry up already toots! I aint got all day!" Beelzemon shouted, not understanding how Jeri was going to use a modifier card and it do anything to help him.

"I'll destroy you before you have the chance!" Diaboromon shouted as he dove from his unseen hiding spot in the columns above, claws ready to impale the girl to the floor below.

Neither Beelzemon or Diaboromon saw the small smile of satisfaction on Jeri's face.

"Mako! Do it now!" Jeri shouted, causing both Diaboromon and Beelzemon's eyes to widen.

"_She was!?"_ Diaboromon realized too late.

"_Just the destraction!"_ Beelzemon thought with a Rika grade smirk.

The young boy flipped his D-Arc so that it was facing down and held it above his head with his right arm, and a single card in his left, then, in the blink of an eye, he pulled them together.

"DIGIMODIFY!"

Beelzemon, feeling that something was wrong with his right hand, flipped his new sword over into his still normal left hand.

"MAGNAANGAMON'S GATE OF DESTINY ACTIVATE!"

The energy blade of Excalibur sprung forth from Beelzemon's right wrist, causing his shark grin to upgrade to feral.

Swinging the blade in a circular arc, he called out the attack.

"Gate of Destiny!"

The 'hole' he had cut in the air turned into a golden disk, which opened as a gateway to parts unknown.

"NO! I can not be destroyed! Not when I'm so close!" Diaboromon shouted as he extended his arms out and grabbed onto two support columns. Though his body was waving in the air wildly, he wasn't moving any closer to the 'gate-o-doom' as Beelzemon would later dub it.

"You jus don't know when ta give up do you?!" Beelzemon shouted in anger. Pushing every ounce of strength he had into his legs, Beelzemon leapt over the gate and landed between Diaboromon and Jeri.

Bringing around Leomon's blade, he made dozens upon dozens of light speed slashes into the Virus Mega's torso before reeling back his left fist.

"BEAT IT! FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" Slamming his fist into Diaboromon's chest, he fired the blast of fire at point blank range, sending Diaboromon soaring into the Gate of Destiny, which then shut behind him and dissolved into nothingness.

Huffing for breath, Beelzemon slid the sword into the sheath now strapped onto the back of his belt, and sunk to his knees.

" Now…dat….was fun," he managed to say before passing out and reverting back into Impmon.

Jeri swallowed the lump in her throat as she reached out, and lifted the small sleeping Rookie. It was taking everything she had to hold herself together, but it was not out of fear or grief, it was gratitude.

Hugging Impmon tightly to herself, Jeri whispered softly.

"Thank you Leomon…thank you."

To be continued!

AN: Strange ending, I know, but I wanted to make sure that readers knew this wasn't the end to this little snippet in time. I had to end this here because the rest of what I have planned for the chapter would have doubled its length, and I wanted to try my hand at writing a two part story arc rather than just a huge oneshot. Now regarding Beelzemon. No, he is not Leomon reincarnated, and he's not going to become Jeri's 'new partner'. She will remain as the Tamer without a partner, as I feel that bringing back Leomon cheapens his death. (No offense to those of you who write that.) I just wanted to do something different than bringing him back and making her a 'normal' Tamer again. Jeri will play a different role in my work, though she will have a special connection to Impmon/Beelzemon from now on, and I'm not just talking about Beelzemon's new sword, and NO I DO NOT MEAN ROMANTIC! What will happen you'll just have to wait and see, but I left enough clues here for anyone to figure it out…I think.

*Whew* Writing Impmon/Beelzemon is tough, the guys accent takes a toll on you after a while. One of my other works has a character that is French, so I have a little bit of practice when it comes to putting an accent down on paper, just not very much. So, what did you guys/girls think of my Jeri? You've already seen a bit of Ai, Mako, and Impmon, but I wanted to give them some more 'air time' and I figured that Jeri's intro would be a good choice to do that. Let me know what you think of my renditions of the characters, what you liked, didn't like, or want to see in the future! They help me grow as an author and give you guys/girls better material to read, so it's a win win situation!

Oh, and on a last note, the 'spawn of Vista' remark. I figured that since Digimon have their own written language, they probably have their own spoken language too, and since they are creatures born of data, Vista, or 'son of a Vista' would be a decent insult lol.

Till next time, Ja Ne!


	5. Lady of the Lake: Part 2 of 2

Lady of the Lake: Part 2 of 2

AN: Well, I'm glad that so many people liked my rendition of Jeri, and the new upgrade for Beelzemon. I'm surprised that no one caught the DBZ joke at the end though, with Beelzemon using Trunks 'Burning Slash' attack. I thought the 'Beat it' line would have given it away….oh well. Now, I've had some request from my other story (Endless Waltz) to see how Jeri came to be the way she is in my work, so I'll be giving a look into that here. Also a few other fan favorites will be making an appearance, a bit more of the last four years will be expanded on, and a good dose of humor will be included. Also, everyone give a big round of applause to the reviewer outlaw hunter for the omake!

Lastly, I know I'm behind or responding to reviews, and I owe so many reviews to some of you that it isn't funny, but I just managed to beat my first case of writers block and I wanted to finish this thing before it comes back again. I'll try to get my act together this weekend!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment.

* * *

Ai and Mako watched nervously from a few feet away as one of the 'second gen' Tamers held their partner tightly to her chest. Neither one wanted to interrupt her, but at the same time, they were both worried about Impmon.

"Jeri…Jeri, is…everything ok?" Ai asked as she gently nudged the older girls shoulder.

Flinching, the brown eyed girl's head snapped up to meet Ai's gaze.

"We need to see Henry."

Ai's face scrunched up in confusion while Mako frowned.

Without saying another word, Jeri rose from her knees, and carried Impmon towards the no longer blocked exit.

"What was that about?" Mako asked as he watched the older girl walk towards the exit.

"I don't know, but I think she wanted us to follow her…"

The twins nodded, and then ran towards the exit, following Jeri as quickly as they could.

* * *

Not even noticing the gentle breeze as it blew, nor the birds singing around her, Jeri's mind was in another world all together.

"_That roar…it was Leomon's, I would recognize it anywhere. But…what happened?"_

Contrary to popular belief, Leomon's roar did not sound exactly like a normal lions as the TV show made it out to be. It was a cross between a lion's roar and a man yelling in anger. She had only heard him roar two or three times, but she would never forget it.

Familiar wounds in her heart twitched, trying to reopen for the first time in almost three years.

"_NO!"_ Taking several deep breaths, Jeri forced the negative feelings back down, and willed the scars on her heart sealed shut.

"_I will not let that happen again, not after what happened last time I lost control of them,"_ Jeri thought as she continued to force the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach away.

* * *

Flashback

Several weeks after the D-Reaper incident, Jeri was once again woken from her sleep by the nightmare of Leomon's death. It plagued her and robbed her of her sleep every night, leaving her a sobbing wreck. She had learned how to keep from crying so loud that others could here her, but not how to shut it out completely.

Wiping the tears from her face with her pajama sleeves, Jeri went to the bathroom, splashed some water on her face, and for the first time in a long time, looked up at the mirror.

What she saw forced bile to rise up in the back of her throat.

Dark rings mired her eyes, her complexion was paler than Rika's and her eyes had a sunken, almost hollow look to them.

"_Is this…is this what I've turned into?"_ She had thought bitterly.

The memories of her friend's worried faces, their fearful eyes burned in the back of her mind. She knew that they were only worried about her, but it only helped to reinforce the notion that she was nothing but a burden to them.

Just when the black pit seemed to be ready to open and swallow her, Jeri's eyes widened.

"No"

It was quiet, so quiet that no one could have heard her unless they had been less than a few feet from her, but she had said it.

The blackness in her mind retreated to a corner, not gone, just lying in wait for the next opportune time.

"_Ugh, not again…I don't know how much more of this I can take."_

Her parents and Takato by extension had made their fears known to her on more than one occasion since she had returned. So, for the sake of easing their fears, she had agreed to seeing a therapist, but that's all it was, for their sake, it had done little to nothing to actually help her.

"_At least she was good for something,"_ Jeri amended as she recalled the technique she had learned to force her depression away from her, if even for just a little while. Not rejecting it, but forcing it away until she could pull herself together.

The main problem Jeri suffered from was that unlike most people who suffer from depression, where the feelings were unwarranted, Jeri knew that in her case, it was. Despite what the others told her, she knew that she had been too weak to help Leomon, and her inability to deal with that had in turn allowed the D-Reaper to use her as a vassal to reach to real world.

"_I don't need people telling me it's not my fault; I need someone to tell me how to move past it."_

_Beep chirp beep chirp beep chirp_

Drying her face, Jeri ran back to her room as quietly as she could.

Lifting her D-Arc, Jeri frowned as the screen continued to flicker with static. Ever since the death of Leomon it's screen had been nothing but static. After Shibumi and the other Monster Makers helped the Tamers get back their partners, it started to act a bit differently.

Most of the time, the screen was simply blank, like it had been turned off. But whenever a Wild One was bioemerging it would flicker to life. The map was distorted, the holo display was nearly unreadable, and the screen was still static snow. But at least it was working.

"_It looks like its pretty close….just a few blocks from here."_

Making her decision, Jeri tiptoed to her window, slid it open, and made her way down to the street below.

"_If Leomon was right, and I do have the heart of a lion, then I need to start acting like one!"_

It took her a few minutes to find the biofield, mainly because her map was so hard to read. But when she arrived, it was too late.

"Diamond Storm!"

A distorted scream was heard, and the biofield dissipated.

"_How did Rika get here so fast? She lives..."_

Jeri's heart sank even further. She had noticed that her friends looked a bit tired and ragged as of late, but she hadn't thought it was because they were keeping an eye on her.

Turning to go back to her room, Jeri bumped into something soft.

"You should be more careful, not everyone out here at night is friendly Jeri."

Looking up, Jeri found herself staring into Renamon's icy blue eyes.

"Sorry….I just…I'm sorry," Jeri said before looking away. She was about to start moving again when a paw grabbed her by the arm.

"I don't think you really are Jeri, at least not sorry enough."

Now confused, Jeri looked back to the vulpine warrior's face and was surprised to see anger in her eyes.

"If you were truly sorry, you would stop making your friends so worried about you."

Not sure how to respond, Jeri hung her head low.

"And there you go doing it again," Renamon said with a sigh.

In the back of her mind, Jeri felt something snap.

"Well I'm sorry that I can't just ignore pain like you and Rika! Not all of us have a heart made of stone and ice water for blood!"

Renamon's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Instead of speaking, the fox Digimon reached out and grabbed Jeri by the shoulder. Seconds later, everything around them melted away and faded to black.

Not knowing where she was, Jeri felt fear shoot through her body. Every instinct was telling her to run, but her body wasn't responding.

"_Why can't I move?! Where am I?!"_

"You are exactly where you were," Renamon's cold voice echoed around her.

"Then why can't I see anything?! Why is it so dark!?" Jeri cried out, her heart beating so loud that it sounded like thunder in her ears.

"This is a mindscape Jeri. A place that Rika and I can access at will to communicate with each other. Should I wish it, I can bring others into it as well."

Thinking back, Jeri recalled the others saying that Rika or Renamon would space out from time to time, and Kazu had commented that they seemed to have entire conversations in only a few seconds without actually speaking.

"Why…why am I here?"

A flicker of yellow appeared before her in the form of Renamon.

"You are here because I brought you here. If you wish to know why I brought you here however, it is so we can speak and not have to worry about others listening in."

"_Or so no one can hear my scream,"_ Jeri though bitterly.

"I can not harm you in any physical way within this realm Jeri, it is not real, it is only a projection of one's mind."

"_She can hear my thoughts?!"_

Renamon closed her eyes and sighed.

"As long as you are here, yes. You can hear my thoughts as well if you try hard enough."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Jeri felt her lip quiver.

"Now that I can see I have your attention, I think it is time some one speaks to you on your recent behavior." Seeing that Jeri was going to interrupt her, Renamon continued, not giving her the chance.

"I can understand you're hurting over the loss of your partner, but you need to let it go Jeri. It's in the past and there is noting you can do about it. All you are doing is prolonging your own pain, and causing those who care for you more pain than you could imagine. Let, it, go."

"How!? How can I just forget about Leomon!? How do you expect me to just forget that it's my fault the D-Reaper almost killed everyone and almost destroyed both the Digital World and the Earth!?" Jeri fumed. She was not one who usually vented her anger, but she could only take so much, and her grief had broken down her emotional control to the point it was almost nonexistent.

"I never said to forget, I said to let it o Jeri. There is a difference," Renamon replied softly.

"What do you mean?"

Renamon looked up and made eye contact with Jeri for the first time since they had entered the mindscape.

"Jeri, there is not a single being alive; who has lived, or will live that is without regret. It is how they deal with that regret that determines what kind of person they are. You are proving to be one that has no care or compassion for her friends, and who does not care about the pain they cause others, no better than the D-Reaper or Beelzemon when he was serving Zhuqiaomon."

"Of course I care! How could you say that?!" Jeri demanded. It was one thing to say she was hurting her friends, but to say she didn't even care that she was doing it?

"Then why do you continue to do so? Because of you, Takato has spent nearly every night since the D-Reaper was defeated patrolling around you home, and that includes before myself and the other Digimon were returned here. The only reason he's not here tonight is that Rika couldn't stand seeing what its done to him any longer and volunteered to keep an eye on you herself. Do you have any idea what you're putting the others through? Do you have any idea how much pain you are causing Takato and Rika?"

"I…I know that Takato is worried about me….but…"

"But nothing! Rika has been so worried about his health that she won't let him out of her sight during the day, fearing he will collapse from exhaustion. Henry has been working with Ai, Mako and Impmon to see if there is any way to remove Leomon's data from Impmon since the day he returned. I doubt the boy has slept in a bed for nearly a month! Kazu and Kenta have been worried as well. They've been doing all of Takato's homework so that he would be able to watch over you. Even Ryo has been affected by your actions. Did you know that he has taken over for Takato and Heny's shifts in patrols? He spends every other night out here searching for Wild Ones. He might be the Digimon King, but he is still human."

Jeri was stunned silent by the stinging words her friend's partner spoke. She had no idea that she had been affecting the others this much.

"Why…are you being so mean to me?" Jeri asked quietly, trying to hold back her tears.

Again the fox's eyes narrowed.

"Because someone has to. The others are too worried that you will fall to pieces if they do. They are unable to act properly because they are unable to keep their emotions in check. Takato hasn't the nerve to say anything even close to a reprimand with you. Rika won't say anything because she knows it would hurt and anger both Takato and you. Henry still feels partially responsible for his father's actions, so in his mind he owes this to the others, and Ryo does not know the others well enough to take this sort of action."

Jeri could almost feel the ground opening under her. And for once, she didn't want to fight it.

Feeling something strong clamp down on her shoulder, Jeri looked up, and was surprised to see Renamon's face appear almost apologetic.

"I know this hurts, but it had to be done Jeri. Anything that affects one of the Tamers affects all of the Tamers in one way or another. I do not mean you ill will, and trust me when I say this; I know what you are going through."

Shaking her head, Jeri felt hot tears trailing down her cheeks. "How? How could you? No one has ever died because you were too weak, you never…"

"Yes…they have," Renamon quietly admitted.

Slowly raising her head, Jeri was again surprised to see the amount of emotion she was on the normally stoic warriors face. The pain, the sorrow, and the hurt, each was as strong as her own.

"Many years ago…there was a war in the Digital World…many innocents died, many who should not have. There were so few of us left in the end…but we continued to fight because to surrender would mean extinction."

Jeri watched as Renamon closed her eyes, as though she were reliving some horrible memory, one far worst than any nightmare a human would conjure.

"It was futile in the end, but despite everything, a small number of us managed to survive because of one Digimon's actions."

Sighing, Renamon again met the young girl's eyes.

"To this day, I still do not know who he was. But what I do know is that he died because I was too weak to save him. I could do nothing but run away like the others had, after he had saved our lives, my life, I left him to die."

Jeri couldn't help but notice the fiery passion in her voice as she spoke. It was strange, but she could hear both pride and grief in her tone.

"Before he told me to run, he asked that I live in his memory, not morn it. He had no regrets over his actions, and told me to live the same way. I…still think of him from time to time, but it only reinforces my drive and desire to help Rika and the others."

Leomon's final words ran through Jeri's mind, replacing her grief with shame and disgust.

Feeling the pit beneath her open even larger, Jeri did something different for once. Instead of rejecting it or pushing it to the side, she tired a different method of fending it off.

"Renamon…would you…can you help me?"

Flashback end

* * *

One year later, she immerged from the pit of depression and despair that had been her heart and mind a completely different person. The darkness, and the weight of her guilt had not crushed her spirit nor had it weakened her will.

It had strengthened and transformed her.

Renamon had taught her how to use the heavy guilt and fears she had to give her drive and power, changing her from a flaky piece of coal into a nearly unbreakable diamond.

If she was weak and relied on the others, it put a strain on them and hurt them. She could see this now, and learned to use it as motivation to become stronger. If she put less of a strain on them, it gave them more power. If she removed herself from being a burden completely, then she could lend them _her_ strength.

"_There is nothing wrong with needing others to help you or support you, but never allow yourself to become dead weight, never force others to carry you,"_ Renamon had once told her.

Knowing that she was the weakest link in the chain so to speak, Jeri had continued seeking out Renamon's advice, trying to find ways to become more useful and less of a burden. It had actually surprised her just how much she learned from her and Renamon's little talks. She had always seen Renamon as this stoic, slightly scary warrior that was only concerned with the safety and wellbeing of her Tamer.

And while that was actually mostly true, there was much, much more to her. Jeri had learned that Renamon didn't just spend the day following Rika as the others had guessed. She had hobbies, likes, and dislikes just like the others. She enjoyed napping during the day if it was quiet enough, and had picked up a taste for tea thanks to her Tamer's grandmother.

But the most unusual thing she had learned was Renamon's favorite hobby.

People watching.

Renamon had a natural curiosity to her, Jeri had learned. She would sometimes spend hours up on roof tops, or hidden among the trees silently observing humans as they went about their normal day to day routines. In time, she even allowed Jeri to accompany her on a few occasions.

"_One can learn much when they watch and listen,"_ Renamon had replied when Jeri asked her about her peculiar choice of a past time.

That, she had learned, was truer than she could have imagined. Renamon watched people to try and learn more about them to sate her curiosity about human behavior. Jeri on the other hand, saw how to use this powerful tool as a way to help her friends. Wanting to train her 'power' of observation, she had again sought out Renamon for help. It had taken only a single month for Renamon to declare that she had no further lessons to teach Jeri, she already had a critical eye for detail, so she only needed help with how to focus on specific things and look for certain signs.

Renamon's parting words had confused her, but over time she found it to be a source of mild amusement.

"_Your eyes…Jeri, they remind me of my own reflection."_

Yet again a small smirk was gracing her face. Time and again people had mentioned how her eyes had a piercing effect to them, able to see through anything they tried to use as a barrier. Never in a million years would the ever but two and two together.

Feeling Impmon's face nuzzle against her, Jeri looked down at the 'cargo' she was carrying more closely.

"_He doesn't look any different than he did before. I don't see any difference in his coloration or markings. I know his eyes are still green because I saw them before he passed out. But still…"_

"Why are we going to see Henry?" Mako asked, growing tired of the silence.

"We need to make sure there are no remaining effects on Impmon from fighting that mutated Wild One. If his data has become corrupted, it could be a disaster next time he tries to fight," Jeri replied calmly.

"But if it was corrupted, wouldn't we see something different?" Ai asked a twinge of fear in her voice.

Sighing, Jeri shook her head. "Not always. Digimon are not basic computer programs, so sometimes it takes a while to catch things like that." Guilmon and Cyberdramon quickly came to mind, but she banished those thoughts just as quickly as they came.

* * *

The trio soon arrived at the apartment complex and climbed up the stairs to the twelfth floor. Years of dealing with Wild Ones had made them leery of elevators, especially after one encounter that left Rika and Takato stranded alone inside one for almost an entire day.

Besides, the exercise was always a bonus, at least according to Ryo.

Once they reached the proper floor, they made their way to Henry's apartment. It wasn't actually 'his' he just decided to take up residence in it.

Over the last four years, Henry had become the official technical arm of the Tamers. Together, along with his father and the other Monster Makers, they rented out a three bedroom apartment directly across from the Wongs. It had been dubbed 'The Command Center' by Shibumi, Ryo had called it 'The Vault', though Terriermon still referred to it as 'Nerdrvana'. It was filled with old computer parts, boxes of research materials, and more Chinese takeout and pizza boxes than an entire collage dorm.

Knocking on the door, the group waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened and no noise was heard.

"Great, the baki was probably up all night watching Bleach again," Mako muttered under his breath, earning a swat from his sister.

"Ai, could you hit the buzzer for me?" Jeri asked politely, but in the back of her mind thinking the same thing as Mako.

Ai hit the buzzer, a yelp was heard, quickly followed by a crash and a thud, which was followed by a series mutters they couldn't quite make out.

"Yeah, who is it?" Henry's voice called out from the other side.

Jeri blinked. Henry was generally always in a good mood, or at least acted like it. So for him to be so gruff was highly unusual.

"It's me, Jeri. There was a Wild One attack at the mall and I think something might have happened to Impmon."

"Hey! We're here too!" Mako shouted indignantly.

"Je..ri? What are you talking about? Can't this wait? It's five in the morning," Henry begged.

Ai and Mako's eyes widened before they started snickering.

"Uh…Henry, it's five in the afternoon," Jeri replied biting her lip to hold back a snicker of her own.

Several seconds of silence passed, then a series of locks were heard being opened.

There, standing like the living dead was Henry Wong. It was obvious that he was tired from where they were standing, but it didn't seem to be the kind of tired that came from late night movie marathons.

"Henry, are you ok? What happened to you?"

The boy ushered the small group inside before quickly closing the door and relocking all ten of the doors locks.

When dealing with Hypnos, paranoia was normal, but considering what the Tamers and Monster Makers sometimes had to put up with, it was also a necessity. Because of this, the apartment was _never_ empty. Someone stayed behind at all times to keep an eye on things, or in case of an emergency, destroy whatever possible.

Jeri set Impmon down on the rather large (and in her opinion ugly) tan couch in the middle of the living room. Janyu had surprised the others when he had it brought in, though the reactions were varied between the Monster Makers and the Tamers.

The Tamers didn't really care much for it, citing the smell of Nachos and old Chinese food, but the Monster Makers treated it as some kind of holy artifact. As it turned out, the couch had been the Monster Makers from back in collage. After disbanding, Janyu hid it in a rented storage facility (Mayumi had forbidden it from entering their apartment after they married). Whenever one of the Tamer's tried to bring up the topic of replacing the ancient piece of furniture, they would be met with a cold angry stare and be told to 'apologize to it'.

The creepy thing though was the strange look of almost gleeful happiness any of the Monster Makers had when they were snuggled up sleeping on it.

Jeri looked back over the Henry worriedly. He was currently sporting a pair of kakis and a white tank top, which she noticed did show off his impressive (for a sixteen year old) build. But his face worried her. She could see signs of exhaustion and stress, but there was something else.

"Please tell me it's nothing big and you just need the first aid kit."

The group turned towards the source of the voice and was surprised to see it was a clearly irritated member of the Monster Makers.

'Daisy'

Like Henry, she appeared to be irritated and disheveled, but more than that, she looked worried.

Several ideas came to mind, but Jeri bit her tongue, right now was not a time for joking.

"There was a weird bioemergence at the mall. Impmon was able to defeat it…but something was wrong with it," Jeri noticed both Henry and the older woman tense.

"Great," Henry started.

"Another one," Daisy finished.

Henry looked like he was ready to bang his head into a wall but settled for running his hands through his hair. Daisy excused herself, muttering death threats towards Yamaki.

"This is the third one in less than twenty four hours. Terriermon and I fought the first one, but then Suzie called and said she and Lopmon had run into a F.E.V as well this morning. If you guys did too then Hypnos is really going to be making things hard on us again," Henry groaned.

"Whats a FEV?" Mako asked, puzzled by the older Tamer's comment.

"It means Forced Evolutionary Variant, it's the term Shibumi came up with for the 'little' problems Hypnos creates for us," Daisy answered as she reentered the room, handing what looked like a cup of hot tea to Henry.

"Great, so Hypnos is trying to put us out of work again huh?" Mako joked trying to lighten the somber mood, earning an elbow jab from Ai.

"Unfortunately, it would seem that way," Henry replied sourly before remembering why they had come in the first place.

"You said something happened to Impmon right?"

The group of now five sat themselves in the living room. Henry and Daisy listening as Jeri recounted everything that had happened during the encounter. Ai and Mako were just thankful that she left out certain details and looked around the room they were in.

"So…you're saying that Impmon…hmm…it almost sounds like he was reformatted," Henry said scratching his chin. "Could you wake him up? I would like to run a few tests if you don't mind."

Jeri looked over at Ai and Mako, who both nodded in consent.

* * *

Impmon was not happy to be woken from his dream, but when Henry explained that he might have been infected, and what could happen to him if her were, the small purple imp did a complete one eighty.

Henry and Daisy led the group the last room in the apartment, which they knew housed all of the Monster Makers 'special' equipment. The dark room had several computer monitors flickering and various other pieces of equipment that looked like they came out of a science fiction movie.

Impmon was told to stand on a device that looked like a small copy machine with another copy machine attached to the back making it look like a large letter L.

Seconds later, two beams of green light moved across the clearly nervous rookie several times before he was told that it was ok to get off.

The group watched as several of the blank screens came to life. Some with what looked like streams of ones and zeros while others displayed strangely colored lines of blocks.

"Everything looks the same Jeri, I don't see any difference now than when he was last scanned," Henry said with a yawn after going over the lines of data several times.

"There are no alterations of his code that I can find, it must have been a glitch in his data," Daisy added as she rubbed some sleep from her eyes.

"What about when he digivolves?" Ai asked thoughtfully.

Henry was visibly surprised by the young girl's remark and shot Daisy a questioning look, causing her to nod.

"That…could actually be something…Impmon, you have it in you for a quick check?" Henry asked with a small grin.

"Meh, I's think I can do's it. Just stand back, I ain use to digivolving in a tiny room like dis."

The group watched as red and purple streams of data flashed across Impmon's body. Then he flashed, forcing the others in the room to close their eyes or turn their heads.

"Dis good enoff for ya?" Asked a familiar deeper voice.

The group looked back to see that Impmon was now Beelzemon, but he was indeed a bit different than he had been in the past. His build was slightly more muscular, not by much, but enough that anyone that had seen him as many times as they had would notice it.

"_He looks like he went from biker punk to biker thug,"_ Jeri thought with a small amount of humor.

The only other noteworthy difference was the sword strapped to the back of his waist, exactly like Leomon.

"Huh…it must be something in his evolutionary coding," Henry thought out loud. Pulling his D-Arc from his pocket, he held it up to the Digimon and waited.

"Beelzemon, Virus type, Mega level….I wonder why it's not registering anything different?"

Beelzemon snorted. "What? Youse expecting it to be 'Leo mode' or some em?"

Daisy and Henry exchanged a look, and then both frowned.

"If it was a mode change, he wouldn't be in it when he first digivolved," Daisy started.

"And he would have a different name, like Gallantmon does," Henry added.

"But Beelzemon doesn't have a sword, only Leomon would," Daisy countered.

"What about Rapidmon? We know there are two different ones in his case, but they have the same name? WarGreymon and Black WarGreymon are completely different types despite being almost as identical," Henry shot back.

Beelzemon dedigivolved himself back into Impmon and covered his ears.

"Ack geeze, capta'in wese pick'n up major nerdage here," Impmon complained.

"Ugh, you don't know the half of it. You try living with these people!" Terriermon complained from behind the others.

"Huh?" Impmon was surprised by the dog bunny's sudden appearance, but tried to not let it show too much.

"They suck the fun out of everything! They don't watch T.V they analyze it! Do you have any idea how hard it is to enjoy watching the end to Advent Children when you have a bunch of nerds listing off every mistake they made in the darn thing? Henry's been turned into one of them!" Terriermon cried.

Jeri smiled and pat the small Digimon on the head. "Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad. Henry's just finally found a group that he can fit in with aside from us."

Terriermon pouted.

"Well, there is one thing you should always remember Terriermon. No matter what happens and no matter how much Henry changes."

"Yeah, and what's that Jeri? That he's hopeless with girls?" Terriermon snarked.

Smiling, Jeri got back up from her knees and shook her head.

"You should always remember to,"

Terriermon leaned in, thinking that Jeri was about to give some of her much sought after sage advice; the expectation on his face was palatable.

"Momentia!" Jeri said with a giggle, causing Terriermon to fall over on his face and the others to sweat drop.

* * *

End Chapter 5

AN: Yeah, the ending kind of sucked, but I couldn't really come up with anything else. I've got ideas for other chapters, but I'm having a hard time putting them in print. This chapter was mainly just to explain that what happened with Impmon was something unique. It's not a 'Mode Change' it's a permanent change to Beelzemon himself. He still has his Buster Mode, and it's been changed slightly, but not by much. I also wanted to give fans a chance to see how Jeri developed into who she is in my work. Renamon might have seemed OOC, but I felt they were within her characters parameters. Rika was upset because of what Jeri was putting Takato through and Renamon wanted to put an end to it before things got too bad. As for the digimon Renamon spoke of in her 'back story' that will be further explained in the future, especially my 'big fic'. It's not a creation of mine; it's a plausible twist to canon.

Now, for some fun.

* * *

Omake: 'The Bag' part 1

Roughly an hour had passed since the battle between Diaboromon and Beelzemon. Cleanup crews from Hypnos had nearly finished their work of cleaning up the mess left from the fight, and things had almost returned to normal.

"I don't like this buddy, whoever this guy is, he's powerful. I haven't seen a signal this powerful in months," Takato shouted to his partner as the two made their way towards the food court.

"Takatomon, maybe we should biomerge?"

The red eyed Tamer considered his friends advice. It had been a while since they needed to bring out Gallantmon, but the readings his D-Arc was giving made the idea awfully hard not to consider.

"Maybe you're right boy. Better to bring too much to the fight than not enough."

Holding out his D-Arc, Takato slammed it into his chest.

* * *

From the opposite wing of the mall, Ryo and Cyberdramon were causing a mass panic. Ryo ignored the cries of hysteria from bellow, focusing only on his D-Arc.

"Wow! Whatever it is, the thing just got bigger. It's got to be a Mega now."

Cyberdramon growled in contentment. He didn't mind his Tamer riding his back, the boy weighed next to nothing. But the shrieks and cries bellow were hurting his sensitive hearing. Learning that he had the prospect of fighting a Mega however, made it worth it.

"How long has it been since we fought one anyways?" Ryo though out loud.

Cyberdramon growled, which to Ryo translated out as 'Too long'.

"Yeah you're right. Mind if I have joined in the fun?"

Cyberdramon was silent, his only response being a snort.

"I knew you wouldn't mind. Alright, its time for the Digimon King to make his entrance!"

Slamming his D-Arc into his chest, Ryo grinned just thinking about the fight to come.

* * *

"**He's getting stronger Takato! I can smell it!"**

From inside his orange and gold bubble, Takato shivered. This was a fight he knew would be difficult. He might not have had Guilmons super noise, but his gut was telling him that whoever it was they were about to run into was not someone to take lightly.

"Alright boy, lets take em down!" Takato shouted as Gallantmon brought his Aegis shield up to the ready position.

* * *

"Alright Cyberdramon, lets take this guy down!" Ryo shouted, much to the delight of his partner.

* * *

"**He's right around the corner!"** Gallantmon said before charging around the side.

"**Ugh!"**

* * *

"**He's here!"** Justimon shouted as he charged around the corner.

"**UGH!"**

* * *

Her face now as red as her hair, Rika looked both ways before stepping foot outside the clothing store. It wasn't that she was afraid of someone seeing her, it was just embarrassing for someone her age to be seen coming out of a place like this, especially if it was one of her friends.

"_Stupid, it's the girls department, who am I worried about seeing me? Jeri?"_ Taking a deep breath, she clutched her small pink shopping back and took a step outside of the store.

"**UGH!"**

And was knocked down by a silver and red metal clad giant.

"_Ah, dang it that hurt! Whoever it was they are so dead!"_ Looking up, Rika's face went from a snarl of anger to mortified horror.

Sprawled out on his back before her was Gallantmon, and resting on his torso was her shopping bag.

"TA, KA, TO." Rika growled as the knight reverted back into Takato and Guilmon.

Reaching back and about to let her fist go sailing, Rika was struck from behind.

"**UGH!"**

And knocked onto Takato.

Feeling that her face turning an interesting shade of crimson, Rika jumped off of Takato and turned on her heel to face a currently laughing madly Justimon.

"Oh, you think its funny do you?" Rika asked icily, causing the entire malls temperature to drop several degrees.

* * *

"Ryo…we should run," Cyberdramon suggested. When his Tamer's only response was to keep laughing however, he quickly dedigivolved and separated from him. The moment his claws touched the ground, Cyberdramon took off.

"What'ch gonna do wildcat? You can't hurt me…when…I'm…crud." Realizing that he was no longer Justimon, but was now 'just a dead mon', Ryo took off with Rika in hot pursuit.

"Get back here you lousy baki!" Rika bellowed.

* * *

Takato blinked then looked down at Guilmon, who looked back up at him.

"Rika mad?" Guilmon asked.

Nodding shakily, Takato answered. "Rika…very...very mad."

"Uh oh, Rika forgot her bag!" Guilmon said pointing at the small pink bag that was now beside his Tamer.

Takato looked at the bag and quirked an eyebrow. "Huh, that's strange. Normally Rika hates anything even remotely girly. What would she be doing with a pink bag?"

"You could give it back to her, that might make her not want to hurt you later," Guilmon suggested.

"I…guess you're right…" Pushing himself up off the ground, Takato picked up the bag carefully. If it was Rika's, it was either dangerous or it was expensive.

"_I wonder what it is?"_

Opening the bag to take a look, Takato yelped and nearly threw the bag away with all his might.

"Takatomon, something wrong?" Guilmon asked, worried about his Tamer's behavior, and the fact that his face was a darker shade of red than his own.

"NO! No-nothings! Nothings wrong!" Takato said with a squeaky high pitch voice as he picked up the pace to get out of the mall as quickly as possible.

"_Dangerous and expensive,"_ Takato thought as he wondered just how he was going to go about returning 'the bag' to his friend.

End Part one.


	6. Kazu’s Lunch Date?

Kazu's Lunch Date?

AN: Well, due to popular demand, and I do mean demand (you people know who you are lol) its time for Tamers own dynamic duo to make their début! This chapter will deal with, you guessed it, Kazu! Kenta will havea small part, but the next chapter will focus on him. I want to give a special thanks to Blazing Chaos, Nolaquen265 and Crazyeight who helped me retool this chapter (though I still do my own editing, any faults you find are mine not theirs). It's been a royal pain, but I decided not to scrap this chapter and start from the ground up. Oh, and this chapter also has the first appearance of another well known face from the world of the Tamers, as well as a special guest from another series (hopefully obvious) and the next part in my epic mini series 'The Bag', which will also introduce a few other familiar faces from the Tamers universe.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment. Go Bamco!

* * *

With trembling hands, a pair of crystal blue eyes peaked over the edge of its owners shoulder.

"_I can't believe this, this…this…THIS IS'NT FAIR!"_

It was taking every ounce of self control Kazu had not to snort like an angry Monocromon at the site behind him. It was unfair, it was wrong; it was an injustice to all that was holy, and it was all happening less than ten feet away from him.

He knew that he had a tendency to fly off the handle sometimes. Not as bad as Rika or more recently Suzie, but he still had his outbursts from time to time. But even Ryo would have had to admit that this was just plain ludicrous.

"It's not fair," Kazu muttered as he twisted the torque wrench around one last time, using his anger to fuel his strength and fasten the lug nut into place.

* * *

The day had started out normal enough. An oddly high number of Wild Ones, but they had all bioemergedtoo far from him to worry about. The fact that they were all level eights or higher hadn't even registered with him, as he was now more or less on the reserve list due to how far he now lived from the city, and his lack of reliable transportation.

About a month after the Monster Makers had brought back their partners, he had moved out of his parent's apartment and into his father's auto shop. The reason being a lack of room for his partner. He hated leaving his best friend and partner in that place all night by himself, but their apartment was just too small for the large digimon. His parents had thankfully understood his request to stay close to his partner, and were supportive of his decision. He still spent plenty time with them though, and he saw his father practically every day since it _was_ his shop.

It really hadn't taken much to refurbish one of the unused offices into a makeshift living quarters. He and Guardromon had actually done most of the work themselves, a feat they took great pride in and made no attempt to hide or deny.

Since then however, Kazu had become a bit of a different person. He was still cocky and headstrong to a fault, but he had also become a bit detached when compared to his former self of four years ago. This was due to the fact that he literally lived with machines twenty four seven now. Between helping out his father around the shop, and his partner's nature, he didn't really have as much interaction with other humans as one would consider 'normal' for his age. There was still school, that was true, but outside of that he tended to keep to himself. Kenta being the only exception as his friend literally lived right around the corner from him now.

Still, it hadn't been all that bad in the end. He had learned to appreciate hard work, and had picked up quite a few other bonuses along the way working with his father.

While he was still about the same size as Henry, he was actually a fair bit more muscular from working around the shop, and hours of tediously working with electrical wiring and putting engines back together had sharpened his ability to concentrate and focus almost to Ryo and Rika's level. Also, he had become much more serious thanks to the hazards he had to keep an eye out for while working on vehicles, along with four years worth of taming.

All around, at least according to Rika, it was a vast improvement.

A few of the others, (specifically Takato and Jeri) however worried about his new and quieter personality, citing that he was turning into a grumpier version of Ryo.

But, even though much had changed with him over the last four years, there was still enough of his former self remaining that you knew who he was. He was still a solid C student, and he was still very proud of it, he still told bad jokes whenever he thought someone would listen, and could still be found camping outside the local card shop the night before a new set of Digimon cards were released. The only major change however was that his 'clashes' with his seemingly eternal homeroom teacher Ms Asaji were no longer mild lunchroom chatter, but had now evolved to become the stuff of legends. The two now actually fought and bickered worst than Rika and Ryo would, sometimes nearly coming to exchanging physical blows.

Now, normally, arguing with a teacher was grounds for severe disciplinary action, but not once had anything been done to Kazu for his outbursts, not once. Even more surprising was the fact that Kazu actually _won_ a few of their arguments.

Once when he had been caught daydreaming, Ms Asaji had warned him that if he didn't shape up soon, he wouldn't have a prayer of finding himself a decent well paying job. He quickly shot back that he already made more than she did, even though he only worked part time. From there it had escalated with her asking if he had ever even read something that wasn't published by Shonen Jump. Without blinking an eye, he listed off ten different mechanical manuals he had read cover to cover in the last month alone. When she asked if he actually planed on making a career out of being a mechanic; and he ended the argument when he replied with a simple 'yes', and asked if there was anything wrong with that.

Terriermon had of course given his own theories as to why this was, each of which had resulted in a massive lump on his head that lasted for several days. The others just chalked it up to routine, but were still watching and waiting for anything that might give them a clue to the reason behind the odd, almost daily ritualistic dual between the teacher and student.

* * *

"Stupid blasted fluffy little pink squeaky toy," Kazu muttered under his breath as he secured the last lug nut in place.

Rising from his crouch, Kazu wiped his arm across his brow to clear off the sweat so he could admire his handy work. Nodding, he smiled to himself for a job well done.

Behind him, MarineAngamon once again cooed, inciting yet another gush of awes from the three sisters that had come to visit their father who also worked in the shop. They stopped by from time to time, but had never once paid him or his partner a piece of mind. The one day Kenta happened to cross paths with them however; he was at the top of their list.

Taking a step back to inspect his work, Kazu felt a small bit of pride at having done so well in so little time.

_Purr purr_

"Awww he's so cute!"

And there went his sense of self satisfaction down the toilet.

"_Why did I have to get the one partner that makes girls run away in fear? Even Guilmon isn't that bad…well, at least not when compared to Jeri's death glare…or Rika's doom glare…I wonder when he'll figure it out…"_Smirking, Kazu shook his head at the thought of his still utterly clueless best (human) buddy. He might be a great Tamer, but he was still dumb as a doorknob when it came to girls.

"_Like I'm any better,"_ he thought with a sigh. Looking up he saw what time it was and smiled.

"Hey dad, I'm on break!" Kazushouted on his way out of the garage bay, grabbing an over shirt, he quickly buttoned it over his tank top and ran a hand through his short brown hair to flatten it out.

His dad nodded from his desk, not bothering to look up from his newspaper. "You've got thirty, any more and its coming out of your pay," the older man joked.

Snorting Kazu continued on his way out, not bothering to grab his 'busy' friend Kenta.

"_Forty yen says he still can't get any of their phone numbers,"_Kazu mused with a grin. He really did wish his friend the best, but he had an important lunch date that he didn't want to miss. Guardromon quickly caught up to him.

"You're not going to wait for Kenta?" he asked, surprised by his partners actions. Normally whenever his friend would come around they would eat lunch together or at least chat for a while.

"Nah, he's got a one in three shot back there, I figured he earned it after he saved your butt last week."

"You mean _your _butt don't you?" Guardromon corrected.

Eyebrow twitching Kazu growled. "Not my fault you forgot to make sure the way was clear before you come plowing through there like a girl at a shoe sale," Kazu defended.

"I thought it was the floor watches job to actually _watch _what was happening around the floor," Guardromon stated. Though his voice sounded even, Kazu could have sworn that there was a teasing undertone to it.

"I couldn't help it ok, I was distracted…and don't even say it!" Kazu shouted, cutting his partner off with a 'mild' glare.

"As you command supreme overlord," Guardramon replied with a fake bow before both he and Kazu broke into a fit of laughs.

While Ryo was the Digimon King, and Rika was the true Digimon Queen, Kazu was the undisputed lord over all that was mechanical, and had proved it several times over the last few years. He could tell what was wrong with a car's engine just by listening to it run, what size and type of bolt, nut, or screw was holding something in place at first glance, and could even tell both how old and where a part had been made just giving it the once over. In short, he had taken to the field of mechanics and the world of machines like a fish to water.

* * *

Turning around the street corner, Kazu scanned the area looking for his target, and grinned.

Living and working at his fathers shop gave quite a few little perks, but this was by far his favorite.

Less than two blocks from the garage was a noodle cart vender. Not only was the food cheaper than the school cafeterias and ten times better, but its owner had become something of a legend. One little cart was the entire business operation, but it was known as the best in Shinjuku. Kazu had joked that he should change the name to such on more than one occasion, especially given what its current name was.

"Let me guess, one chicken on pork right?" The young man in his early twenties asked rolling his eyes. The owner and sole employee of 'Noodle noodle come get your noodle' was a fairly average guy. A bit taller than Kazu, he was a lean and somewhat thin young man. But Kazu knew for a fact that the guy was in good shape, he had seen him chase down and 'detain' one would be pickpocket several months ago. The short fight had ended when he knocked the guy to the ground and sat on his back until the police arrived.

Holding his hands over his heart, Kazu acted like he had just been shot.

"How could you have ever guessed?"

The older male chuckled as he fixed up the order. "Oh I don't know, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that it's the _only _thing you've ordered from me in the last three years. I _do_ have others you know?"

Kazu frowned. "But what if I order something different and I don't like it? Then I wasted my money!"

Chuckling, the young man exchanged the bowl of noodles for Kazu's wad of bills. It was a routine they had performed so many times that the young man didn't even bother to check to see how much he had been given or bother telling Kazu how much the meal was, they both knew by heart.

"See ya around Noodle Guru!" Kazu said with a nod.

The young man chuckled and shook his head. Before he could respond however he noticed a small line forming up to order lunch, a small line that was quickly forming into a small army.

Or as he called it. Business as usual.

* * *

"Why do you eat the same thing every day?" Guardromon asked his Tamer curiously as he eyed the bowl of noodles. While he himself didn't eat, being a machine, he knew that this was not normal. Even digimon liked to have _some_ variety in their diet.

"Meh, don't see any reason too. This is good, and it's not like its bad for me or anything."

"It has more sodium than a salt shaker," Guardramon quipped.

"Oh great, now you're turning into a dietician on me?" Kazu teased.

"You know what a dietician is?"

Kazu glared at his partner. "Of course I know what a…ok, you got me on that one, I'll admit it, but I'll have the last laugh next time you need an oil change," Kazu shot back with a knowing grin.

This time Guardromon opted to keep his…errr…mouth shut, lest he dig himself a deeper hole to crawl out of.

The two soon found themselves at a small park. It wasn't much, just a few shrubs, a bench, a statue and some flowers. It would have surprised anyone to find out that this was one of Kazu's favorite places on earth to be. It was relatively quiet, but it wasn't exactly silent either. It was a small oasis in the middle of upper Shinjuku where one or two people could relax for a few minutes away from the rest of the world, but still be in it.

"So you actually _can_ be on time for something?"

Seeing that the other party was already here and waiting, Kazu beamed a wide grin.

"When foods involved, yeah, especially when it's from the Noodle Guru."

Rolling her eyes, the other person sighed when Kazu sat down on the opposite end of the park bench, leaving a respectable amount of distance between them.

"So, everything alright?" Kazu asked after inhaling several mouthfuls of his lunch.

The woman chuckled. "As good as can be."

"That bad huh?"

This caused the other person to snort.

"Its summer, what do you expect. I have to live on my savings until the fall. Things get pretty tight for me this time of the year," the woman replied as she took a small bite from her noticeably small sandwich.

Eyeing the small sandwich that apparently made up the entirety of the persons lunch, Kazu frowned.

"I could give you a loan, its not like I'm hurting for cash."

The woman raised an eyebrow before taking another small bite.

"What?"

Sighing the woman shook her head.

"Kazu, you're a strange one you know that?"

Instead of being offended the boy simply shrugged his shoulders. "Not as strange as you."

The woman put the remains of her sandwich on her lap and turned to the younger with a piercing expression.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Taking another slurp from his lunch, Kazu answered her as calmly as though he was talking about the weather.

"It means you make no sense. You hate your job but you don't do anything to change it. There are other things you could do for a living, you know that right?"

The older woman huffed. "You don't know the first thing about me, what gives you the right to say anything about what I do for a living, grease monkey," she shot back. Her tone wasn't 'venomous' but it was clearly defensive.

"Grease monkey I might be, but at least it's what I _want_ to be. And, I happen to know quite a bit about you actually."

The woman gave him a doubting look.

Slurping the last of his lunch, the boy wiped his mouth with his shoulder and put the small disposable bowl down between him and his lunch partner.

"Let's see, graduated with the highest marks ever seen in the history of Nakano, then you were accepted into the University of Tokyo where you finished your freshman and sophomore courses in the same year, then continued and earned a doctorate in Education. You finished the entire four year program in less than three years all the while being the varsity tennis team's star player. Quite the résumé I'd say. But why you settled for where you are now when you were only twenty three is beyond me."

The woman's eyes were as large as saucers. To her credit though, her mouth was only partially open.

"How…how did you…what, you get your friends at Hypnos to do a background check on me or something?" She asked accusingly.

Kazu chuckled. "Hypnos? Never heard of it, there's no such thing as Hypnos. It's a myth, like dragons, or well made American cars." Though he was half joking, he, like the rest of the Tamers knew Hypnos was nothing to joke about. They avoided talking about it in public or even when in private.

The woman remained silent until Kazu's chuckling stopped.

"Actually Kenta found it on Tokyo U's student database. He's pretty good with computers you know."

The older woman sighed and shook her head. "So, what do you want?" Her voice was mostly neutral, but it carried a sad undertone that a deaf person could have picked up on.

"Huh?"

The woman's face twisted into a scowl, but her eyes never once left his.

"_What the heck!? She's looks angrier than…I don't think I've ever seen ANYTHING that pissed, not even Rika. And what did she mean about me wanting something?"_

Several seconds of silence passed between them, but when the woman saw the confusion mixed with the boy's fear, her expression lighted.

With a sigh the woman spoke. "Never mind, forget about it. For a minute there I thought-"

"That I was trying to blackmail you or something? Why would I do that?" He asked, finally figuring out what she had been thinking.

He didn't know why, but the wistful look on his lunch partner's face made him feel like he was somehow being insulted without his knowing.

Wanting to steer the conversation back into safer waters, Kazu brought up his previous question.

"You still haven't answered my question though. Why don't you do something different? It's not too hard to tell that you hate your job. You keep going like this, you're just going to end up more miserable than you already are," Kazu pointed out.

The older woman closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"Kazu, one day you'll learn that you can't always do what you want to in life, and it's not always your fault. Sometimes things happen that you have no control over…that's how you end up stuck at a low paying job you hate, with people who don't respect you."

Seeing that the boy was no longer frightened and confused, but only confused, she elaborated.

"You want to be a mechanic right?" She stated more than asked.

Grinning Kazu nodded his head. "Yep, and nothing's going to stop me," he replied firmly.

The woman shook her head sadly. "That's just it, there are plenty of things that can stop you, don't you realize that? What if when you're working on a car one day something happens and your hand got crushed?"

Kazu thought for a minute before responding.

"If it was just one hand, I would still have my other one wouldn't I?" He asked, pointing to one hand with the other.

The woman rolled her eyes and groaned. "You're not listening, what I'm trying to tell you is that sometimes things happen, and you-" before she could finish Kazu cut her off.

"That's a load of bull. If you really want to do something then you do it. The only thing that stops a person from doing what they want to is themselves. I wanted to be a Tamer, so I went with Takato and the others to the Digital World to get a partner and become one. If you wanted to do something else with your life you would have, end of story."

The woman's head lowered, and for the first time since they had started this discussion, she looked away from him.

"It's not always that easy. There are some things in life you just can't change, no matter how much you wish you could."

Kazu snorted. Looking at his watch however made him cringe.

"Hey look, my breaks almost up, and if I don't get back in time my old man's going to chew me up and I'll get stuck cleaning out the oil trap again for a week."

The woman chuckled as she rose from where she was sitting, sporting a small smile. "Kami forbid you having to do actual work because of me," she replied sarcastically.

Kazu grinned. "Well, you know how it is. Same time tomorrow Nami?"

The older woman shrugged her shoulders. "Not like I have anything better to do with my time."

Kazu frowned at the tone. "Hey, no getting all depressed during the summer, that's an unwritten law you know."

"That law stopped applying to me-"

Again the young teen cut her off. "It's not a matter of age; it's a matter of principle. No getting depressed during the summer you hear?"

The woman smiled gently and nodded her head before turning to leave.

Kazu watched her as she left, and once again frowned.

"_I wish she would do something, anything! It's not good for someone to isolate themselves completely. Even Rika knows that. How can she not have any frie-"_

"Is something wrong?" Guardromon asked, recognizing his partners worried expression.

"Nah…just thinking. Come on, I don't want to be cleaning tar out of my hair for the next month," Kazu said tiredly as he turned to return to the shop.

* * *

As Kazu and Guardromon walked in silence, the metal giant looked down at his Tamer for a moment, then back up to the sidewalk ahead.

"Something wrong Guardromon?"

The large digimon thought for a moment before speaking, wanting to make sure he didn't trip or stumble over his words.

"Why do you insist to…'hang around' her so often? I was under the impression that you despised her existence."

The boy raised his arms behind his head as he continued walking. Like his partner had moments before, he remained silent until he was able to gather his thoughts together.

"I don't…hate her. I never have. I just hate what she's doing to herself and the rest of us," he replied

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."

"She hates her job, and it makes her miserable. Because she's miserable it makes the rest of us miserable. The reason so many people are so like that is because they do things they hate all the time instead of what they want to."

"But if everyone did what they wanted, would that not lead to absolute chaos?" The large digimon asked, now even more confused than usual by his partners way of thinking.

"Nah, that's just the bad stuff. I mean like jobs. If a person hates what they do, they do a sucky job and make everyone around them just as depressed as they are. Why do you think Rika was such an Ice Queen when we met her?"

"Because she had little in the way of social interaction with others, thus she lacked social skills, so she covered it with anger?"

"Kinda…look, the point is, if a person hates doing something, they shouldn't do it in the first place. I like what I do, so I enjoy it and I do a good job."

"But she does do a good job, and she hates it," Guardromon interjected.

Kazu sighed. "Buddy, just drop it ok?"

"Drop what?"

Kazu's groan was heard from miles away.

End chapter

* * *

AN: Ok, after two days of work and with much assistance from the three I mentioned before (thanks again guys, I owe you another one), this chapter has been resurrected. Its undergone a major overhaul from what it was, and its entire purpose has been changed. I'll go into and explore more of the characters dealings of the last four years in the future, but I want to get a few more characters out in the field before I really go in depth for any one of them. The Next chapter will be Kenta centric, but after that I'll once again be open to request.

Now, for some more fun!

* * *

Omake: 'The Bag' Part two

Takato and Guilmon were currently in the Tamer's hideout, hidden deep in the thick forest of Shinjuku park. The teenage boy was sitting with his back to the wall while Guilmon dug around the portal tunnel looking for any snacks he had hidden that Impmon had not yet found.

Across from Takato, resting against the opposite wall was a pink shopping bag.

"_It's mocking me,"_Takato thought as he glared at the offending object.

For the last hour, ever since he had run out of the mall like the Shinigami itself was after him, this was how it had been.

The young boy was trying to come up with a plan for what to do. After all, this was not something that happened to him everyday, nor was it something he _wanted_ to happen to him ever day.

"_I could just…throw it away…I mean, its Rika, she can afford…more,"_ he thought with a gulp.

Five times he was about to get up to throw the bag in the nearest trashcan he could find, but every time he started to move some invisible force would shove him back down.

"_Knowing Rika though, she's probably worried that someone found them…what am I saying?! Of course she's worried that somebody found them idiot!"_

Banging his head against the wall behind him, Takato groaned.

"This is not how I imagined I would be spending my weekend."

From deep within the tunnel, Guilmon's voice echoed. "Really? This was how I hoped I would!" Guilmon's laughter came to a sudden stop, and then changed to a cry of triumph.

"Yay! Impmon didn't find my peanut butter banana bread!"

Takato shuddered. _"How he eats that stuff I'll never know, bleck!"_

Turning his gaze back to the bag, Takato weighted out his options and their merits.

"_Ok, if I throw it away no one will ever know and I'll only have to deal with my conscience for a few weeks…and guilt…dang, that's out. Rika would get it out of me with one glare."_

Frowning, the red eyed youth tried to figure out a way of returning the 'bag' without getting caught and then beaten within an inch of his life.

And that was only if he was lucky.

"_I could stuff the bag in her mailbox!"_Takato's newfound smile quickly died however.

"_But Renamon would probably see me and tell Rika who it was that returned it. Then she'd track me down and hang me by my boxers on the school flagpole."_

Ignoring the loud sound of his partner eating, Takato's frown became deeper and deeper as he checked off one by one each idea that he could come up with.

"_And I couldn't get someone else to drop it off because then I'd be sending them to their death! This stinks! Why can't I just have one normal day in my life?!"_

Sighing, he rested his head against the cool concrete wall of the hideout.

"_Well, it could be worst. At least it's only me that knows about it. I'm glad that Hypnos gives us some privacy in our lives,"_Takato thought bitterly.

* * *

Many, many miles away from the Tamer's hideout at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Tally crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "He's a boy; of course he's going to keep them. They're all the same."

Riley smirked. "Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's a good kid. Besides, he's surprised us before remember?"

Yamaki flipped his lighter closed for the umpteenth time and groaned.

"_One hundred and forty billion a year budget and we're reduced to this? How did this happen?"_

Silently thankful that his superiors had left after the third failed attempt of their own version of the Yuugoth program, the middle aged man was now helpless to do anything about the current situation. His operators had worked their fingers raw trying to repair the damage the 'higher ups' had done to the network trying to 'help' and had threatened to go on strike if not given a break.

To be more precise, Riley had threatened, Tally backed her up.

"_At least they're happy…"_Yamaki muttered. When the two were in a bad mood, everyone suffered, _especially _him. So if they were unhappy, he was unhappy, and nobody liked Yamaki when he was not happy, as an unhappy Yamaki usually meant someone would get fired before the days end.

"Fifty yen says he'll keep them," Tally shouted as she slammed the bill onto Yamaki's desk.

"I'll see your fifty and raise you twenty. The boys a good kid, give him a chance," Riley shot back, slamming her own bills on the table.

The two had patched the hidden camera from the Tamer's hideout onto the main monitor (the entire IMAX dome) and were sitting on Yamaki's antique wooden desk. He didn't mind, he knew they were nowhere near heavy enough to damage it, he had bought it specifically to withstand a lot of stress.

Namely, his fists slamming on it every time one of his superiors did something stupid, as they had several times this morning.

"One hundred yen and two days paid vacation says he returns them, but not until peaking inside the bag again at least once," Yamaki said with a perfectly straight face.

The two women jumped slightly, having forgotten that he was still in the room.

"Oh, sorry sir, I thought you had left for lunch," Tally said nervously.

"I did…an hour ago," Yamaki replied with his usual calm and stoic voice.

"And you're not going to yell at us for wasting government resources?" Riley asked suspiciously, indicating with her arm the viewer's current display.

"The government wastes enough of its resources on its own. Compared to what they flush down the toilet every day this is less than what he makes for an allowance," Yamaki replied indicating Takato with his head.

"Umm…I hate to interrupt, but were you serious about the bet sir?" Tally squeaked.

With a small grin, Yamaki pulled out his wallet and dropped several bills onto the small pile accumulating on his desk. "I'll even sign the vacation request today if you like."

Tally and Riley looked at each other, and then back at Yamaki with matching smirks.

Several more bills soon joined the pile before the group turned their attention back to the monitor.

* * *

Back at the hideout

"_Should I or shouldn't I?"_

As expected, his rhetorical question was actually answered.

"_Are you nuts?! She'll tare you apart like a used tissue!"_ Kazu's voice shouted in his head.

"_It's still the right thing to do. Like it or not, you are a knight, and knights have to abide by the code of honor and chivalry,"_ Henry's voice shot back.

Takato groaned. _"But I don't want to die!"_

"_Dude, you think she'd actually kill you? Remember who we're dealing with here people, the ICE QUEEN! She won't kill you; she'll just make you wish you were dead!"_Kazu argued.

"_You don't know that. Besides, she is your friend, and you wouldn't want to do anything that might hurt her would you? Remember how much she's done for us in the past? Isn't this a small thing in return?"_ Henry reasoned before cringing at his choice of words.

Kazu's voice laughed. _"I'll say, its several 'small things' alright hahahahaha!"_

Flushing red Takato tried to focus on the matter at hand and forget about his inner Kazu's train of thinking.

"_Ok, this is Rikawe're talking about. She's my best friend; she'll give me a chance right? It's not like she'd fly off the deep end and attack me without giving me a chance to explain myself right?"_

The image of himself as a beaten and bloody corpse in a ditch fluttered across his mind.

"_I am so dead,"_ the Tamer's leader thought as his shoulders sagged.

End 'The Bag' Part 2


	7. Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle

AN: Alright, I know that I said the next chapter would be Kenta's, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a complete chapter for him. I have a few ideas, but I need a little more time to sort them out and make anything worth writing an entire chapter about. Fortunately, this little idea came to me a while back, and didn't take me too long to flesh out. It's something that's always sort of bugged me about the series, but at the same time I realized that I could use it for something important too. This, like chapter three, helps to establish some ground work for my 'big fic'. Its not an excerpt, and neither was chapter three, both of them occur **before** the big fic, like everything else that will be posted in this story. As always I ask that you give me time to respond to your reviews, the weekdays are though, but I usually have the weekends free so…yeah. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment. Go Bamco!

Once again Henry found himself staring blankly at the computer screen.

He had checked, double checked, and triple checked for every other possible answer, but there was none.

The seemingly innocent monitor, which was hooked up to a custom keyboard would have been able to pass as 'normal' for the most part. But this computer was about as _normal_ as the people that built and used it.

A creation of the Monster Makers (who now deemed themselves too old to be called the 'Wild Bunch' anymore) had created it as a state of the art piece of equipment. There was not a single standard component in the entire construct. From the hard drive that took up more room than a washer dryer, to the cooling system that had taken six months to build from scratch. It was, in ever sense of the word, a monster.

Which would explain the nickname Kazu had christened it with.

'Frankenstein'.

The Monster Makers apartment was not your typical run of the mill apartment to begin with however. It had three bedrooms, but two were filled with computer equipment. It had an enormous living room, but it was filled from wall to wall with various gadgets and widgets that most people wouldn't have a prayer of understanding the function of. Five separate telephone lines were wired to the various rooms and outlets, but not one of them connected to a hard line or the public phone system. In fact, the only way to actually contact anyone in it was by cell phone, and even that wasn't always reliable.

And that was only the beginning.

The front door had been replaced with an industrial strength security door, the kind normally found in government buildings or police departments. Aside from the normal 'stock' lock it came with, nine additional locks were mounted that could only be unlocked from the inside. This meant that the only way in, was for someone inside to let you in.

That, or a good twenty minutes with a battering ram.

The only other possible way in was through the side patio.

This had not escaped the attention of the Monster Makers however. The glass slide door had been replaced with a sheet of quarter inch thick bullet proof one way mirror Plexiglas. You could see out just fine, but you would have better luck trying to see through a brick wall than through the glass from the outside.

All of this was because of the paranoid (and rightfully so) nature of the individuals who dwelt within.

And even THAT was not the end of the security measures that had been put into place.

Aside from Janyu Wong (or Tao as his fellow Monster Makers still called him) none of the others would stay for very long. So far, by Henry's recollection the longest any one of them would stay was two weeks, and that was only in extreme cases. Normally, every eight days his 'roommate' would disappear from the apartment at night and he would wake to find someone else there the next day.

When he had confronted Shibumi about this, the man had explained that to avoid any 'complications' the group would move from one location to another frequently. That was also the day he learned that there were three other locations identical to this apartment.

It had taken him a few months to get used to the somewhat unusual behavior of the group, but as more time passed, the more he begun to appreciate and understand it.

These were not 'normal' people. They worked behind the scenes, digging through the garbage of the cyber world. They were whistleblowers, informants, and hackers. Through they preferred to think of themselves as vigilantes of the internet, there was the underlining truth that to do what they did, they had to get their hands dirty. Especially since their number one chief suspect was the government.

Shibumi had explained it as a game of Go. There were simple rules, and simple things that a person could do, but the game was far from simple. Added to that, no matter what they did, in the end they would lose. That is why their goal was to capture as much ground as possible before the game ended. Even if they lost, they were going to take some territory as their own. This is why they maintained secrecy and moved so often.

Henry guessed this was their way of saying they played cat and mouse with Hypnos.

This apartment however, was more of a relaxation spot for them. They didn't want to entangle Henry with their world, not yet anyways. But at the same time, they needed to be ready just in case.

Which explained Henry's mystified and even somewhat frightened reaction to what he saw before him.

An email.

Not that he had never received one before, far from it in fact. Like the Monster Makers, he had several accounts, each of which was supposedly an individual in a different country.

But what frightened him was the fact that unlike the other computers that littered the apartment. The 'Frankenstein' was not supposed to be able to receive email.

He still couldn't wrap his head around the specifics, but the others had explained that it worked more like a 'window' than a normal computer.

Whatever that meant.

Still, the fact remained that according to the blinking icon, he had one new message.

Part of him debated waking Babel, or even going to get his father, but something in the back of his mind urged him to bring up the message.

"_If I do…I might get the others in trouble…but what if this is some kind of test? I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that…the question is, why?"_

While nowhere near in the Monster Makers league, he had proven himself to be at least on Tally Onodera's level several months back when he hacked into Hypnos under Shibumi's instruction.

Riley however had then back hacked him, and wiped his entire hard drive. The two hadn't reported him, but the message was loud and clear.

Still, he felt confident enough that he could at least give it a shot.

Clicking the icon, Henry waited for the scanners and safety programs to check the document thoroughly.

"_What on earth? It's saying that it was sent from this terminal. But that's impossible."_

Looking over at his sleeping partner, Henry kicked himself for forgetting that 'impossible' more or less meant 'probably would happen' when it came to him and his friends.

When the scan was complete and it had verified that there were no viruses, worms, or trojans attached to the document, he loaded it up.

The first line made his pulse skyrocket.

_Iki_

Though he was not a member of the Monster Makers, the group had accepted him as one of them around a year ago. They saw the potential he had, but had adopted a non interference approach with him. If he wanted to work with them, he made the choice; they didn't push him or pressure him in any way.

But, after it became apparent that he was going to follow in his fathers footsteps, the group (including his father) had taken him (blindfolded) somewhere that he was still unsure the exact location of being to this day. Looking around, his initial thought had been that they had dragged him to an anime convention since nearly every person there matched the typical stereotype.

But then he noticed something.

Aside from himself, the youngest person present was still in their late thirties.

When the Monster Makers had been asked to identify themselves, they had used their old collage nicknames, Shibumi, Tao, Dolphin, Curly, Babel, and Daisy.

When his name was asked for, his father had introduced him as 'Iki'.

The name had annoyed him a bit, but when he realized what this meant, he couldn't help but grin.

He had been accepted as one of 'them', the hackers.

After they cleared the gate, his father had instructed him not to ask too many questions and to try and not draw too much attention to himself. Aside from being given an alias however, the day had been rather uneventful. It seemed that most of the people present all knew each other, and no one had approached him. Not knowing what the day was going to entail, he hadn't brought much in the way of money either, so he couldn't exactly buy anything from any of the venders.

Still, he had enjoyed himself.

When the time to leave had come, he was once again blindfolded and guided to his father's minivan.

When he asked where he had been taken, his father simply replied 'Shangri-La' with a completely deadpan expression.

Back to the present, Henry was now beginning to see just why the Monster Makers were so paranoid all the time. Aside from the guard at 'Shangri-La' only six people knew him as Iki, and only five of them called him by it.

Getting a grip on himself, Henry nervously continued reading the message.

_Iki_

_I haven't much time. I wish to help you and the others once again, but I fear that I am far too weak to do so as I did before. I know that it's not much, but it is the most I can do for now. Please accept my gift, and use it however you see fit. I only wish that there was more I could do to help._

Henry frowned as the rest of the message was garbled to the point of being illegible. He was only able to pick out bits and pieces. The words 'return' and 'again' came up several times, but the only other bit that he could halfway make out was at the very bottom.

_Pl.a.e, t..l D..p…. his ..u..ter is .t..l a..v.e .n. .ove.s h.m_

Scratching his chin, Henry tried to make heads or tails of the message, but there were too many blanks and gaps in it. He tired to launch a recovery program to see if he could restore more of the message, but it informed him there was nothing to salvage. That could only mean one thing.

The message hadn't been scrambled; someone had tried to delete it.

"_Still, what were they talking about helping me and the others? Is it referring to the Monster Makers? No, that's impossible…isn't it? It could be referring to myself and the other Tamers though…but who's ever helped us in the past? It could be a prank from one of the others…but I doubt that…something just doesn't feel right about this."_

Checking the message over a few times, looking for whatever 'gift' the person had mentioned, he was unable to find any attachments or links.

"_Great, knowing my luck, it was probably information in the message."_

Sighing, Henry got up and was about to wake Babel to see what he could figure from the odd message when a familiar and very much unwelcome (at least at two in the morning) sound reached his ears.

_Beep chirp beep chirp beep chirp_

"_Why am I not surprised? What's next, Hypnos's goons waiting for me at the door?"_ Henry through with a sigh.

Looking at his D-Arc's compass, he was surprised to see that the signal was so close.

Quickly pulling on his jacket Henry picked up his still sleeping partner and walked out the side balcony. Closing the door behind him, the boy was thankful that his partner was starting to wake up.

"Henry, whats your problem? Its…ah! Why are we out here!? The suns not even up yet!" Terriermon yipped when he felt the cold morning air blowing in his face.

"It's a Wild One, pretty close too. Now hang on," Henry explained as he pulled himself over the side of the hand railing and carefully edged his way around to the corner.

"Gah! Henry! You know how much I hate it when you do this! Why can't we just use the elevator or stairs like we used to?" The small dog bunny cried.

"Because I don't want to wake Babel just so he can lock the door. Besides, where's your sense of adventure?" Henry joked.

Terriermon looked down and shuddered.

"Back inside curled up and asleep. Right where I'd be if you'd just let one of the others handle this," Terriermon shot back.

"Sorry, but this one is too close to ignore. Now hang on," Henry's calm voice did nothing to give away the slight amount of fear he was feeling.

Letting go of the hand rail, Henry pushed off to the side and leaped to the emergency fire escape that went down from the roof.

Grabbing the ladder with his hands, Henry pulled himself tightly against its frame and took a second to catch his breath.

"Henry, if you ever do that again, I'm telling Suzie on you," Terriermon threatened.

Henry snorted.

"Whose idea do you think it was?"

It wasn't until Henry reached the bottom that Terriermon's brain finished rebooting.

"Rika's turned her into a mini copy of her!? It's the end of the world!"

Shaking his head at his partner's antics, Henry undid the lock on his bike and started peddling towards the signal with only one thought.

"_I don't think its Rika's fault as much as it's Takato's."_

After just a few seconds of traveling, the familiar column of white light erupted ahead of them, filling the night sky.

"_That's weird, why hasn't Hypnos contacted me yet? They know where I live, so they should have by now. I'm the closest one after all."_

Reaching the digital field, Henry hopped off his bike and pulled out his green tinted sunglasses.

"_Oh well, lets see who it is this time,"_ Henry thought tiredly.

Reaching the center of the field, the two looked around for any sign of the Wild One.

"Hear anything Terriermon?" Henry asked as he looked to his D-Arc.

"Nu uh, nothing. I thought I heard something when we got here, but whatever it was, it's gone now," Terriermon replied with a yawn.

The needle on his compass changed into four inward pointing triangles, indicating a lock on.

"Whatever it is, it's somewhere close."

"You sure don't miss anything do you?"

Henry frowned. "Terriermon, enough with the quips already."

The small digimon looked up at him with large blinking eyes. "Uh…Henry…that wasn't me."

"Terriermon, I told you, I don't like you lying to me."

"But I'm not Henry! Honest!"

Looking at his partner skeptically, the boy noted that he did _appear_ to be telling the truth.

"Alright, if it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Me! Rapid Fire!"

Both Henry and Terriermon's eyes widened as two missiles screeched towards them.

"Look out!" Both shouted before jumping in opposite directions.

With an explosion that packet more punch than a tanks cannon, the two were thrown several yards from the blast and coated with dirt, grass, and other bits of debris.

Coughing, the two crawled their way out of the dust and dirt cloud.

"You ok Terriermon?!" Henry called out.

"No, I most certainly am not ok! It's two in the morning and some nut just shot a missile at me! What part of that spells OK to you!"

Laughter from above silenced the dog bunnies rant.

Looking up, the two were met with a very familiar sight.

"Rapidmon?"

The flying digimon continued laughing, but responded.

"The one and only! Man, you should have seen the looks on your faces! Hahahaha! I haven't seen anyone's eyes get that big before!"

Looking over the Wild One carefully, Henry noted that it was indeed Rapidmon, but something seemed off about him.

It was an unfortunate truth that the majority of Wild Ones chose to bioemerge at night, so Henry was well acquainted with what Rapidmon looked like in the dark. And while this one was close, their something was off about it.

Pulling out his D-Arc, Henry held it towards the flying digimon.

"Ok Henry, that's it, no more computers or anime for you. If your brain is so rotted that you can't even remember my movies, it's a sign that you need to turn the thing off and get some sleep," Terriermon snipped.

"I thought something was weird," Henry muttered cutting off his partners stab.

"Rapidmon, Armor level, attacks are Miracle Missile, Rapid Fire and Tribeam. He's not the same as you Terriermon."

"Oh so he's one of those huh? Trying to move in on my turf is he?" Terrier rolled up a pair of imaginary sleeves for emphasis and marched towards to flying figure.

"Hey you! Yeah you with the big ears! I'm going to give you to the count of three to get you Chrome Digizoid plated copy cat butt out of my town!"

All that did was make the flying dog bunny laugh again.

"What? Are you calling me out? You're a bit little to have such a big bark aren't you puppy?"

Terriermon growled.

"This town aint big enough for the both of us. I warned you once, and I aint going to warn you again," Terriermon threatened.

Henry facepalmed.

"_Never again is Terriermon allowed to watch a John Wane marathon,"_ he thought as he pulled his D-Arc from his belt and readied the card he knew Terriermon was itching for him to use.

"Bring it on bunny pup! Let's see if you even HAVE a bite to go with all that bark!"

Seeing that the Wild One was about to launch another attack, Henry stepped in.

"I don't think so, ready Terriermon?"

"Yeah! Let's teach this guy a lesson he'll never forget!"

Flipping his D-Arc to its side, Henry brought it up and slid it back across the card in his other hand.

"**Digimodify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"**

Terriermon grinned.

The green shell of data quickly enveloped Terriermon's small frame, tearing apart the majority of his data and leaving nothing but his core. Seconds later, Terriermon was once again able to feel his body, recognizing the familiar surge of power spread through him as armor plates quickly covered his feet, hips, chest and shoulders. Less than a second later he felt the metal encase his arms, almost up to his elbow followed by the helmet closing over his head.

When the shell of data exploded open, Terriermon was gone, and in his place Rapidmon emerged.

"Rapidmon! Look out!"

Opening his eyes, Rapidmon saw the two missiles heading for him, apparently having been fired while he was digivolving.

"Wow, taking a cheap shot while I wasn't even able to fight? Man you're a coward!" Terriermon taunted.

"I prefer to call it smart. You can't get hurt if the other guys dead after all," the golden plated Rapidmon shot back.

"Hey that's pretty good. Mind if I use it? Like right now? Rapid Fire!" Twelve missiles launched from his back and flew towards the Wild One.

"Ha! That's the best you got! Tribeam!" Golden orbs incased his feet and each hand until a thin beam of energy connected them.

"Get out of the way Rapidmon!" Henry warned.

Realizing what was about to happen, Rapidmon boosted out of the way and dodged the golden beam of light that had destroyed his missiles and was heading for him.

"Ah! What the heck! You're an Armor level! Where in the name of Bill Gates did you get that kind of fire power!?" Rapidmon yelped.

The gold plated Wild One laughed.

"I found it! I was going about my business when I saw something going up a data stream. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't really care. All I knew was that it was heading for this world, so I grabbed onto it and hitched a ride. When I came through, voila, new and improved!"

Henry frowned. While he knew that not everything with digimon worked as it had in the TV show, Armor Digivolution was still something of a mystery to the Tamers due to its vague nature. Only four digimon were ever actually shown to Armor Digivolve in the series, and grand total, the Tamers had only come across two Armor digimon before, making this one the third.

"_So I guess there really are Digieggs in the Digital World. But how could one get caught in a data stream coming to our world? Wouldn't they be hidden, like in a cave something?"_

Eyes widening, Henry remembered the strange email he had received only a short while ago.

_Please accept my gift, and use it however you see fit. I only wish that there was more I could do for you._

"_Someone was trying to send it to me! But who?"_

His curiosity getting the better of him, figured that it was worth a shot.

"Hey! Rapidmon!"

Both the green and the golden armored rabbit digimon responded.

"What!?"

"Not you Terriermon, I mean the new guy," Henry groaned. He just knew this was going to be more trouble than it was worth, but he had to at least try.

"Oh! So some new bunny hops up that's all shiny and sparkly and you kick me to the curb! Some Tamer you are! What about all the years we've fought together?!!"

"Terriermon, I'm being serious. This could be important!"

The green armored Rapidmon huffed and turned to face away from his Tamer.

"Now, Rapidmon, you said that you saw something being pulled up into a data stream right?"

"Hey! Why should I answer anything you ask? This isn't twenty questions, and I'm not your pet!"

"Hey! You take that back right now! I'm nobodies pet, if anything, he's my pet!" Rapidmon shouted back.

"Whatever, I don't have time for this. Sayonara suckers! Miracle Missile!"

Several dozen gold plated missiles fired from the ports on Rapidmon's back as well as the two barrels on his arms.

"Gwahaa! Henry! Watch out!"

Before he could react, Henry was slammed by his partner into the ground hard.

What followed was a series of explosions littering the park. Some came close while others missed by quite a bit. All the same, it reminded Henry that they were working against the clock.

"_This is bad, if we take too much longer, the biofield will dissipate, and if that happens, this lunatic will be loose on downtown Shinjuku. Where are the others! I know Takato can't have been too far away, unless…that's right, Jeri, dang. Looks like I'm on my own."_

Surveying the damage, and seeing how thin the biofield was becoming, Henry groaned.

"_I really hate doing this. It always causes so much trouble."_

"Terriermon! Dedigivolve now!"

The green armored Ultimate looked at his partner with wide eyes.

"Henry, we can't do that here, theirs nowhere near enough room!"

Gnashing his teeth, Henry weighed his options. He knew that MegaGargomon could end the fight quickly, but Terriermon was right, they didn't have much room to work with here. But at the same time, if they took too much longer it would be too late.

Pulling out his modifier cards, Henry groaned when he remembered that Suzie had been going through them earlier in the day, saying something about needing to borrow a few for a match.

"_Great, she cleaned me out. All I have left are speed and power ups. Hey, wait a minute, what's this?"_ Catching a hint of a green bordered card, Henry pulled it out, and smiled.

"_So, she didn't just borrow, she traded huh? I hate to use it up, but this should do the trick."_

"Rapidmon, flank him and take him down! I've got a plan!"

Vanishing from sight, the green Rapidmon reappeared behind his golden counterpart.

"Guess who?"

"Uh, Aunt Sissy?" He asked mockingly before spinning around to fire.

"Hey! I'm a guy! You take that back!"

"Yeah, you're a guy alright, a pretty dumb one! Tribeam!"

Rapidmon blurred out of sight and reappeared directly under his opponent, signaling Henry that he was in place.

"_Alright, here it goes."_

"**Digimodify! Machinedramon's Gigacannon Acivate!"**

"You do a pretty good imitation of the real thing, but around here, second best don't cut it bub! Gigacannon!"

Rapidmon's two back mounted missile launchers swiveled upwards then around until they were resting on top of his shoulders.

Then fired.

Seeing the large mass of plasma heading his way, Rapidmon knew there was nothing he could do, the blasts were just too large to dodge. "Wait! No! You can't do this to me! I'm too funny to die!" Rapidmon shouted before becoming engulfed by the two enormous blasts of energy.

The attack had an almost equal effect on Rapidmon however, even though he was the one using the attack, the recoil from the blast had thrown him to the ground below like a runaway freight train.

"Gwwaaaaaahhhh!"

_**Thud**_

Looking up, Henry was surprised to see that instead of vanishing as it normally did, the cloud of data surged and split in two, coming at both the unconscious form of Rapidmon, and at himself.

"Rapidmon! Look out!"

His warning falling on deaf ears, Henry could do nothing but watch has his partner was hit by a literal wave of data. Remembering that a stream had been heading his way as well, he tried to roll out of the way in time, but reacted far too slowly to dodge the blast that seemed to have a mind of its own.

The last thing he was able to see was Rapidmon beginning to glow with a faint light, apparently uploading the defeated Rapidmon's data.

Then nothing but blackness.

Warmth

He didn't know what it was, but he felt something warm and very soft under his head, then, something almost feather light move across his cheek.

"Henry…"

As difficult as it was, the boy managed to just barely open his eyes. It was still dark, and the only light aside from the stars was from a nearby streetlight, so it was hard to see anything. Trying to focus, it proved to be too much for him. He felt completely exhausted, like he had run a marathon, or to be more accurate, a triathlon. Before his eyes closed once again, he saw a face hovering just above his own. He couldn't make out who it was, but he did note that their eyes were the most brilliant shade of blue he had ever seen.

Before completely falling back into the realm of dreams, he felt something shift under him, and heard a soft, decidedly feminine voice speak.

"You should rest now Henry…."

Feeling both warm and secure, he didn't even try to fight it, and feel asleep.

"Wake up…please wake up…Henry…wake up!"

Forcing his eyes open after what felt like only a few seconds, the teen boy came face to face with his crying younger sister, but for a moment, something seemed off.

"_Wait a second; I could have sworn…Suzie's eyes aren't blue."_

Blinking several times, his eyes finally were able to focus on her face. Sure enough, she looked exactly the same as she had last time he had seen her…except she was crying.

"Hey, I'm alright. I'm not dead, so stop crying huh?" Henry said sleepily.

"Yeah! Some of us are trying to get their beauty sleep!" Terriermon shouted from somewhere close by.

Suzie stopped crying the second she heard her brother speak (she ignored Terriermon completely).

"You're ok!" Tackling her older brother back to the ground, Suzie buried her head into his chest and once again started crying.

"I…I…I was so scared Henry! You weren't moving, I couldn't even tell if you were breathing! You scared me half to death!"

Reaching up, the older Tamer wrapped his arms around his younger sister and held her tightly to try and calm her down.

"Hey, now I already told you. No more crying ok? I'm fine, see?" Henry asked as he pushed the trembling young girl away from him a bit to show that he was indeed alright.

It took about a minute or so before she finally stopped crying, but her voice was raspy and she still had a bad case of the sniffles, which meant she must have been crying for a long time, or was still very upset.

Probably both he decided.

Looking around, and trying to get his bearings straight, the flood of memories from the night before came rushing back to him. Bits and pieces, tiny flashes, but nothing solid.

"Suzie…why…are you here? How did you find me?" He asked as he slowly pushed himself up again.

"_Huh, that's weird. If I slept all night on the ground, I would have thought for sure that I'd be stiff as a board, but I feel fine…heck, I feel great! I can't remember the last time I felt this well rested."_

Suzie's face flashed with a mixture of emotions, then swung around like she was looking for someone.

"Huh, I wonder where they went."

Now very interested, Henry turned his sister's face towards his own.

"They who Suzie?"

The young girl frowned.

"I…don't know…My cell went off this morning and woke me up really early. I thought they had just dialed the wrong number though because I didn't recognize it, so I tried to go back to sleep. But it kept ringing…even after I thought I turned it off now that I think about it." As she spoke, Suzie started tapping her chin, one of the few mannerisms left over from her old self of four years ago.

"O….k…that's weird…but what happened after that?" Henry asked, thinking that Suzie must have hit the wrong button since she had just been woken up.

"Well, I didn't recognize the person's voice, there was all this static in the background, but they said you were in trouble, and that you were here, so I grabbed Lopmon and came as fast as I could."

Henry noticed that it looked like she was holding something back, but was uncertain if she should tell it or not.

"Suzie, what else happened?" Henry asked sternly, or at least as sternly as he could to his little sister.

Looking somewhat bashful, she answered him. "When I got here…there was someone else here….but I didn't get a good look at them, I…I was more worried about you…"

He could see the honesty in her eyes, and he knew that she wasn't lying. But it was still unnerving to find out you had been asleep all night in the middle of the park, that someone had called your little sister to come and get you, and that someone had possibly been there while you were out cold for who knows how long.

"Do you remember anything about them? Anything at all? Like if it was a man or a woman, tall or short?"

Suzie scrunched up her face, trying to force herself to remember what she had seen.

"I…couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl…but they were too short to be a man or a woman…they looked like someone your age Henry…but I can't remember anything else, they were too far away. I'm sorry," she answered sadly, thinking she had messed up.

"What did I tell you about crying? I'm not upset, just a little curious, that's all," Henry said, trying to be as reassuring as possible.

Brushing himself off, the teen looked down at his partner, then to his sister with hers, all four of which were now silent.

Hearing four stomachs growl for food each looked away from the others in slight embarrassment.

"Come on, let's get something to eat, I'm starving," Henry said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"All right, now you're talking my kind of language! Hi-ho silver!" Terriermon shouted when he jumped up and landed on Henry's neck.

"Giddy up Tonto! Lets roll, breakfast awaits!"

Henry groaned.

"Terriermon, first of all, it's 'hi-yo' not 'hi-ho', secondly, the horse's name _was_ Silver, Tonto was the Indian. And thirdly, no more Westerns for you, they cause too many problems," Henry chastised before rapping his friend and partner's head with his knuckles.

Ignoring Terriermon's usual rant, Henry cast one last glance back at where he had slept the night before. The grass had been trimmed recently, but he was able to make out the impression he had made in the grass from lying in it for several hours, along with a second, much small impression close to where his head had been.

Feeling a phantom touch of something soft brush against his cheek, he felt both happy and confused, the former being the cause of the latter.

"Henry! The foods getting cold!" Terriermon cried, prompting the boy to look back towards the others and jog to catch up.

He was hungry too after all.

End chapter.

AN: Spooky huh? Good, I wanted it to be lol. There is a lot more going on behind the scenes that the Tamers are not aware of yet, nor will they be for quite some time. I do want to point out that aside from Jupi, I haven't used any OC's, so yes, it was a canon character who appeared in this chapter. I'm trying to build up towards the big story with bits and pieces. Most of the big story will revolve around Takato and Rika, but Henry has a decent sized part in it, as well as several of the others. Besides, as I said before, I love mysteries and being cryptic, it's a lot of fun in my book lol. As for Henry's nickname 'Iki' I got the idea from 'Shibumi' (which has an actual meaning) Iki is by definition: an expression of simplicity, sophistication, spontaneity, and originality. It is ephemeral, romantic, straight forward, measured, audacious, smart, and unselfconscious. I thought it would fit Henry very well, especially if Terriermon has rubbed off on him over the years.

Now, for some more fun! While it might not have been her intention, Geekgirl gave me a bit of a challenge in her last review, namely to find someone who would make a bigger scene than Impmon in the current situation. Well, I am happy to announce that I did. Also, while this was originally going to be the last chapter, it seemed to take a different turn, so it will be at least one more, if not two more chapters long. Enjoy!

The Bag part 3

In the back of his mind, Takato could almost hear Kazu's voice humming the secret agent theme song. At first it had been cool and all, but now it was getting really annoying.

"_Would you cut that out?! You're going to get us caught!"_ Takato mentally shouted.

It didn't go away completely, but it did get quieter, which was at least somewhat better. Especially since Kazu couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

He had ventured from the relative safety of the Hideout and was now moving through the streets of Shinjuku…

Sort of.

Running through back alleys, ducking and jumping behind whatever cover he could find, be it shrub, bush, or garbage dumpster, it was all the same.

A godsend.

The sight of Takato Matsuki walking down the sidewalk with his partner was nothing new. The people had long since grown used to it.

But the sight of the Tamer's leader carrying a bright pink shopping bag was not something they were used to, and if he had anything to say about it, they never would.

"_Ok, Rika lives just a little over a mile from the edge of the park, and so far I've made it…five blocks. Man this sucks. Can this day get any…wait a minute, on second though, I don't want to know the answer to that."_

Moving as stealthily and as quickly as he could, the red eyed teen darted from behind a dumpster and into a dark alley.

"Aww, Takatomon, my feet hurt, cant we stop now, this games not fun anymore."

Cringing, Takato turned to face his partner.

"Sorry boy, but this is something I have to do, and I need you to go along with it. But I promise, if you do really well, I'll make all the bread you can eat, deal?"

He was surprised to see Guilmon hold out his hand towards him.

"Uhhh, what is this?"

"Shake on it?" Gulimon asked 'innocently'.

Sighing, the boy remembered that Guilmon had regular dealings with Impmon, so he should have seen this coming.

"Alright, shake on it."

Grabbing his partner's hand…err claw, the two gave one firm shake before returning to 'the game' as Takato had tried to explain off as.

It was like hide and go seek, but much more difficult since everyone in the city was 'it'.

"_Ok, that takes care of my allowance for the rest of the year, I just hope I'm around to actually pay him,"_ Takato gulped.

Taking a step forward, Takato felt something land on his shoulder, something soft.

"_Oh crud, I've been caught!"_

"Hi Takato!" A loud voice giggled in his ear making to teen jump up several feet like a rocket.

"Gaaahhhh!"

Landing on his backside, Takato clutched his chest to try and slow down his soon to be permanently stopped heart.

"Oh, it's just you Calumon, phew, for a second there I thought I was a goner," he joked nervously.

The small digimon's ears shrunk to their 'small' form, but his smile grew ten times larger as he laughed.

"You jumped like a scardymon Takato, and here I thought you were brave!"

Turning red as his partners skin, Takato tried his best to salvage what little remained of his dignity.

"I'm not a coward ok! I'm just under a lot of..." he was cut off when Calumon noticed the bright pink bag, and lunged for it.

"Yeah! Presents for everyone!"

With lightning fast reflexes born of desperation, Takato yanked the bag out from the small rocket of cuteness's path.

"Aww, you're being mean Takato! You're supposed to share presents!" Calumon shouted angrily before using his atomic powered pout.

"Uh, this isn't a gift…"

The small digimon hopped up on his knee, took another look at the bag, and then looked back at his face. This action repeated several times until the small digimon taped its chin and tilted his head slightly to the side.

"But it's pink….I didn't think boys liked pink…you are a boy aren't you Takato?"

Now, Takato had done, and been through a lot in his short life of sixteen years, but for some reason, today had taken the cake. He had fought against Mega level digimon without batting an eye, he had saved his friends lives dozens of times over, had looked death itself in the face many times and hadn't even flinched, and had even tried to calm down Rika when she was in one of her monthly ultra bad moods and lived to tell the tale.

But this,

This was too much.

He didn't know what it was, if it was crying or if it was anger, but whatever it was it took every ounce of self control he had to keep it in check.

"Yes Calumon, I am a boy, no, this is not mine, but no it's not a gift either."

Calumon's ears spread open and he started to hover in front of the boy until his eyes widened.

"But…if it's not a gift…and its not yours…YOU STOLE IT! OH NO! TAKATO'S TURNING INTO A THIEF! SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE! THE NATIONAL GUARD! QUICK, WHATS THE NUMBER FOR NINE ONE ONE!"

Quickly clamping his hands on the tiny digimon to block out his surprisingly loud voice Takato knew that things were only going to get far worst before they got better, _if_ they ever did.

"Calumon, cut it out, I'm not a thief!" Takato whispered harshly.

Calumon's eyes got even wider, going from frightened to complete and utter panic. So, like any other creature his size would have in this situation, he reacted accordingly.

"OOOOWW!"

And bit Takato.

"OH NO! NOW TAKATO'S A LIAR AND A THIEF! QUICK! SOMEONE HELP!"

Grabbing the small digimon once again, Takato had made sure to pull the long sleeves of his pullover to cover his hands.

Sure enough, Calumon tried to bite him again, but this time only got a mouth full of cotton and polyester.

Feeling the little guy's body start to shake, Takato's mind went into overdrive to try and come up with a way out, any way out.

"Umm…they..its…" Shoulders slumping, Takato sighed.

"Calumon, it's a gift for Rika ok?"

"_It's not a complete and total lie…"_ Takato reasoned.

At the mention of Rika's name, Calumon became very still. Looking up from his depressed state, Takato was surprised to see the intensity of the small digimon's glare.

"_Wow, he's like an overprotective little brother or something."_

"I'm going to let you go now, but you have to promise me that you won't start screaming again ok?"

Feeling his head nod, Takato slowly released his hold, and was surprised yet again when the small digimon flew from his hands and kicked him in the jaw.

"How dare you try to use Rika as an excuse! Shame on you Takato!"

Before he could kick Takato's jaw a second time however, something caught and pulled him away.

"Woah there little fella, why don't you try picking on somebody your own size?"

"_Wait a minute; I know that voice…its…NO! Anybody else, not him!"_

"You ok down there Takato?"

Turning his head just enough so that his busted lip was visible; Takato cringed at the fellow Tamer's almost knowing smirk.

"Hi…Ryo…"

"Wow, and here I though Rika was the only one that didn't want me around today," the older Tamer joked.

Chuckling, Takato pushed himself up. "It's not that, it's just been…one of those days…hey, what happened to your…everything?"

Once he was actually able to see his fellow Tamer clearly, the younger boy cringed.

To put short, Ryo looked like he had just been put through a meat grinder, then a blender, then got the snot kicked out of him. Like Takato, he was sporting a busted lip, but unlike Takato, he also had two shiners that made him look somewhat like a raccoon, along with several burses covering his face.

Chuckling, the older boy scratched the back of his head.

"Well, lets just say I had a bit of a run in with a very unhappy Wildcat…"

Takato's eyes widened.

"Rika did that to you!?"

The older boy shrugged.

"Not all of it…she did give me a pretty good pop to the jaw…but…I kind of fell down some stairs trying to get away from her…I think she was satisfied with it though because she was gone when I came too…I still haven't been able to find Cyberdramon though…"

Takato didn't know if this made him feel better or worst. On the one hand, he knew Rika wouldn't pulverize someone without a good reason. But on the other hand, she hadn't done anything to help Ryo after he had fallen down the stairs either…

Feeling something moving in his arm, Takato's blood went cold when he saw that Calumon had used the momentary distraction to climb up the pink shopping bag.

"Ahh! Oh no you don't!"

Yanking the bundle of cuteness that even Rika had been unable to resist completely, Takato held him by the scuff of his neck with one hand, and the shopping bag in the other.

"Hey! No fair, if Rika gets a present so should I!" Calumon shouted before going back into 'pout mode'.

Cringing, Takato looked up to see Ryo lazily raise an eyebrow.

"So…a present for Rika huh?"

"_Dear Kami, please, if it's not too much to ask, could you just let the ground open up beneath me right now? Or just a bolt of lightning would do. Something? Anything?"_

A clay flowerpot landed and shattered about a foot to Takato's right, making his head drop.

"Well? What'ch got there for your Queen Takato?"

Said boys eyebrow twitched.

"My…Queen? You're joking right?"

The older boy's grin widened.

"Maybe, maybe not. Depends on you."

Feeling the bag move again, Takato saw that this time Guilmon was the perpetrator.

"Guilmon!" Takato nearly cried.

"I'm sorry Takatomon, my stomach takes over when I get too hungry," Guilmon said sadly as his bat ears drooped.

Sighing, the young boy took a step back (mentally) and took a look at where he was. Standing in the middle of a dark alley, running and hiding like a common criminal, trying to return one of his friends personal belongings without getting caught or seen, and surrounded by three of the five biggest pairs of loose lips he had ever met (the others being Terriermon and Kazu).

"_What the heck, I've got nothing left to lose do I? If I'm going to die, I might as well go with a bang."_

Taking a deep breath, Takato put on his best smirk.

"You're right Ryo; it is a gift for Rika. I thought about it, and since me and Jeri aren't exactly together at the moment, why not give someone else a shot?"

The older Tamer's eyebrow rose slightly higher.

"Then what on earth could you possibly buy her that would come in a pink bag?"

"You really want to know?"

Ryo thought it over for a moment, and then nodded slowly. Years of dealing with strange and unusual circumstances had given him a sixth sense when it came to weirdness.

And right now, his weird-ar needed a new level added to the top.

Leaning forward, Takato whispered as quietly as he could into the Digimon Kings ear, and then backed away.

The boy's face didn't change for a few seconds, but then he broke into a fit of laughter so hard he was clutching his sides.

Guilmon and Calumon both watched silently, confused and more than just a little bit worried about the human since he had mentioned falling down some stairs earlier.

"Oh man, that…that…oh man, thanks Takato, I needed that," the older boy managed to get out between breaths.

Wiping a tear from his eye, the older boy shook his head before turning to leave, chuckling as he went.

"_If I live, he'll think it was a joke, if I die, then at least I'll become a legend,"_ Takato though to himself, not sure if he should be proud or horrified by this turn of events.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, Takato was about to continue on his way when Ryo called back to him.

"Hey! If it helps, her favorite colors are red and white!" Ryo shouted, still chuckling to himself before waving farewell.

Takato snorted, but then noticed that his right arm felt a good pound or two lighter than it had before. Looking over, he saw to his horror that his once Calumon filled hand was now short one Calumon.

"Uh oh, you're going to be in trouble Takato, these are all blue and purple!"

Looking down, eyes wide and eyebrow twitching like no tomorrow, Takato saw the one thing he had feared most.

Calumon

Looking up from _inside_ of the bag.

Yeah, it was one of those days.

End The Bag: Part 3


	8. Pocky, Princess, and Pwonage

Pocky, Princess, and Pwonage

AN: Well, do I still have any readers out there? I know its been some time, but I've had a lot going on for the last few years. I apologize for being gone for so long, honestly I have no excuse. Anyone reading this who is also an author I ask that you please not allow life to stop you from doing the things you enjoy, make time for the little things that make life worth living. As Woody Alen said, Its easy to live to be ninety nine, you just cant do anything that makes it worth living to ninety nine. With that out of the way, on the fourth anniversary of 'A Valentines Day to Remember' I give you this. Its not much, but I hope you'll like it. I promise to try better to get my work done. Don't stop sending me PMs and don't stop reviewing, its all that keeps me going at times.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I own a DVD set of it now (03, the best season ever) but that's it. Digimon and its characters are the property of Bandi Namco Entertainment. I also don't own Ezaki Glico, it's a real company.

* * *

The once beautiful and peaceful landscape of Shinjuku Park now resembled a warzone.

Trees were uprooted, huge cracks ran deep into the Earth, and black scorch marks littered the area.

While damage to the park was nothing new, the extent of the damage was beyond anything that had ever happened before. Not even the worst battle with a Wild One had ever done anything _this _severe.

The most likely reason for this however was that the _source_ of damage was one unlike that of any other battle before.

"**Thunder Clapper!"** Justimon's voice echoed throughout park, quickly followed by a monstrous explosion of energy.

"**You'll have to do better than that Ryo! I'm not falling for the same trick twice!"** Gallantmon shouted as he jumped to avoid the attack.

"**What's the matter Takato? Chicken?!"** Ryo taunted as he reformed Justimon's right arm back to normal and charged.

"**Shield of the Just!"**

Ryo's eyes widened when he heard Gallantmon's voice call out _behind _him.

"_Dang, he's getting better and better!"_ Ryo thought as he rolled to the side, just barely dodging the blast of energy that he knew would have destroyed him had it connected. Rika had warned him that Gallantmon could vanish leaving behind only his cape, but he had never actually seen it for himself before.

"_He's not taking any chances if he's firing at that close a range, this is bad."_ Ryo's face became a sour frown. Sure, he had expected Takato to be at least as good as Rika, after all he had learned from both of them. But what he was seeing and experiencing now was beyond what he had even thought possible. He might be the Digimon King, but given the circumstances here and now, he was on equal footing with his opponent.

Changing tactics, Ryo knew that close range combat was now out of the question. Gallantmon's shield was just too big of a threat, so he opted for opening some space between them.

Transforming Justimon's arm into its cannon mode, Ryo let loose a barrage of fire. It might not actually hurt Gallantmon, but it would give him time to put some distance between them to think out a new strategy.

"**Hey! Get back here! I wasn't finished with you yet!"** Takato shouted when he saw Ryo backing away as he fired.

* * *

Jeri frowned as she watched the two battle it out. She hated it when her friends fought each other, but this was something that the two of them had to work out by themselves. No amount of pleading or begging on her part would stop this.

It was a battle to the death.

"Who do you thinks going to win?" Calumon asked in his normal cheery voice, still not quite grasping the situation going on around him.

"What are you, stupid? Chumly doesn't have a prayer. He's going up against the Digimon King. Ryo's just going easy on him because he's having fun," Kazu said as he turned the page in his magazine.

"Kazu! You're supposed to be his friend!" Jeri shouted before eyeing what the boy was reading.

"How can you just sit there and read that when two of your friends are fighting like this!" Jeri growled angrily.

Looking over the edge of his magazine, Kazu frowned. "What? I wanted to see if there was anything about me in here this time. The Mega Foursome are always hogging the spotlight," Kazu defended.

"Ah hem."

Rolling his eyes, Kazu turned to Kenta.

"Dude, that cuddle buddy cream puff of a Digimon you call a partner doesn't cOUNTTTT!" Kazu's voice became a high pitched squeak.

Terriermon and Kenta laughed, while Jeri and Suzie frowned. Henry was completely oblivious to what was happening beside him, focusing instead on the two combatants.

Dropping Kazu like a rock, MarineAngemon huffed before going back to his Tamer.

"Dude! NOT COOL!" Kazu shouted as he pulled his pants back down to normal level. "Who taught the plushy how to give wedgies?" Kazu shouted looking around the others that had gathered. His gaze settled on the one he _knew_ had to be responsible.

Terriermon

Before he could speak however, another voice called out behind them like a bolt of lightning.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

"Uh oh, Chumly and Ryo are in trouble now," Kazu chimed happily.

"Not as much trouble as you're going to be in Kazu. It was your idea that they do this," Suzie said crossing her arms grinning smugly.

Kenta snickered as his friends face drained of all color, but greeted the newcomer all the same.

"Hey Rika, haven't seen you since this morning's tumble."

The redhead raised an eyebrow at the boy's casualness. It was something of a problem that he and Kazu had lately, thinking that due to their mutual friend they suddenly were on 'buddy' level with her.

"_Don't throttle him Rika, it's not worth the trouble."_ Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Rika held out her hand towards the two combatants.

"Would somebody please tell me what is going on here? Why are Takato and Ryo trying to kill each other?" she asked as calmly as she could given where they were and what was going on around them.

Everyone looked away not wanting to be the one stuck having to explain the raging battle before them.

Then finally, someone spoke.

"Uh…yeah…see, here's the thing…uh…remember how Ryo and Takato didn't show up this morning?"

Rika's eye's narrowed at Kenta who moved several feet away from her, signaling that she was not going to like what she heard.

Groaning, she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"_I should have expected this, so why did I even bother?"_ She thought in annoyance.

"What he's trying to say is, that there actually was a reason that Takato and Ryo weren't there to help with the RedVeggiemon swam," Suzie stated icily.

Without opening her eyes, Rika asked Suzie to continue, knowing full well that she was going to regret it.

"Ezaki Glico was hosting a pocky eating contest this morning, the first place prize was two tickets to the Nami Tanki concert tonight," Suzie explained.

Opening her eyes, Rika shook her head.

"Ok, so that explains where they were this morning, but why are they fighting like this?" Rika winced when she saw Justimon's Thunderclapper arm smash into Gallantmon, throwing him onto his back.

Before Justimon could deliver the final blow, Gallantmon rolled out of the way and swept at Justimon with his lance.

"**Hold still!"** Ryo shouted in frustration.

Gallantmon said nothing as he focused on attacking and pushing his opponent back.

"Takato and Ryo tied for first place. They ate every single piece there until none was left. Since they tied for first place, they were each given one of the two tickets," Suzie added, grinning when she saw Gallantmon's Aegis shield slam into the back of Justimon's helmet like a sledge hammer.

"That still doesn't tell me why they are fighting." Rika pointed out, annoyed at how everyone was skipping around the subject.

"The reason they are fighting, is that Kazu suggested that they battle each other and that the winner gets the losers ticket," Jeri said shaking her head in disappointment.

_Silence_

"So it's Kazu's fault then?" Rika asked as she looked at the soon to be hurting friend of her boyfriend.

Gulping nervously, Kazu dropped his magazine and started backpedaling his way from the angry redhead, attempting to muster up an excuse.

"He…hey..hey, you can't pin this completely on me, they agreed to it!" Kazu defended.

Rika shot him a look that said 'I'll deal with you later' before turning her attention to the two currently deadlocked fighters.

"But why are they…oh no…please tell me they didn't…they aren't….ugh! Boys!" Rika groaned as she clenched her hands into fists and started shaking with anger.

"How long have they been at it like this?" Rika asked with a harsh whisper.

Calumon jumped free from Jeri's arms and landed on Rika's shoulder, smiling warmly.

"Takato and Ryo have been playing for hours!" He shouted happily. "I want to fight the winner!"

Rika had to suppress smiling at the little guys antics. She hated to admit it, but he was cute. Right now though, there was a much larger problem to be dealt with.

"_When I'm through with them…"_ Rika's silent promise of pain was cut off by the two's banter.

"**I'm going with Rika and that's final! I went three days without eating to win that contest!"** Takato shouted as Gallantmon's body started glowing with red and gold energy.

"**So what!? I'm allergic to that stuff and I still competed! I'm going to have hives for a week because of that stupid contest, if anyone deserves to take Rika it's me!"** Ryo shouted as Justimon's right arm transformed into its energy blade.

Rika's eyes widened at the twos declaration.

"They're fighting to see who gets to take me out on a date?" She hissed before storming towards the two with clenched fists and her trademark scowl in place.

"Yay! Rika's going to play too!" Calumon shouted happily, floating off of Rika's shoulder and using his ears to glide back to the ground landing beside Terriermon, who was on his back rolling with laughter at the two boy's predicament.

"They're dead now aren't they?" Kazu asked blankly.

Kenta and Suzie both nodded in agreement.

"Then I get all of Chumly's cards," Kazu added.

"What?! Hey, that's not fair!" Kenta shouted angrily.

"I call Ryo's then," Suzie added casually then smirking at the two boys' dumbfounded expressions.

This of course caused Terriermon to break into another fit of laughter.

* * *

"**Alright Ryo, no more playing around! This ends here, and now!"** Takato shouted as eight wings of light sprouted from Gallantmon's back just as his Gram lance and Aegis shield morphed into the Blutgang sword and Gungnir javelin.

Everyone's eyes widened (except Rika who was still storming towards them with a black aura of malice and anger).

* * *

"Whoa, Takato's really taking this serious, I can't even remember the last time he pulled out the Crimson Mode," Kenta said pushing his glasses back up.

"I think it was when he took on that MetalSeadramon last month," Kazu said with a half bored half uncaring tone as he picked back up his magazine and returned to thumbing through the pages.

Were it not for the fact that they were glued to watching the fight, Suzie and Jeri would have slapped Kazu.

* * *

"**That the best you got? Bring it on!"** Ryo challenged, bringing his secret weapon into the fray.

Justimon's energy blade sparked, then grew in length until it was as large as him. He was both slightly disappointed and slightly impressed by Takato's lack of reaction to the weapon, but it didn't change his mind about using the one thing that almost took down the D-Reaper on his comrade in arms.

Even if it was technically Rika's power and not his.

Pulling back their weapons, the two prepared to unleash on final blast to end the battle once and for all.

"PLAYER THREE HAS ENTERED THE BATTLE!"

Takato and Ryo's eyes widened as Sakuyamon landed between them and raised her staff above her head before slamming its butt end onto the ground.

"**SPIRIT STRIKE!"**

The explosion of light engulfed the three fighters and blinded the others from seeing what happened.

When the light faded, both Gallantmon Crimson Mode and Justimon were no more. Only Sakuyamon remained.

"PLAYER THREE IS THE WINNER!"

_Thud_

_Thud_

Dropping their controllers, Takato and Ryo spun around to attack whoever it was that dared to interfere with their fight, only to come to a screeching halt and wilt under the hardened glare of Rika Nonaka.

"Crap, we're screwed aren't we?" Takato asked under his breath.

Ryo only gulped in response, which basically told Takato that 'screwed' was an understatement.

"I would have expected this from Kazu or Kenta, but I thought the two of you had more sense than this," Rika said between clenched teeth.

Seeing her angry expression, Takato got ready for the strike he knew would be coming. They had been caught, and now they were going to be punished.

He didn't like seeing Rika angry, usually because it meant pain would soon follow, but when it was directed at him like this it made him feel even worse. It seemed that the longer they were together, the more it pained him to see her angered or hurt, especially when it was his fault.

"Hand them over, now!" Rika demanded holding out her hand.

Ryo's eyes narrowed in defiance, but when Rika's glare lowered the room's temperature several degrees, he caved and forked over his ticket.

Seeing her turn towards him, Takato felt a pang of guilt when he saw the disappointment in her eyes. Anger he was use to, pain he knew how to help her with, but he still had no clue what to do when he messed up like this. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved his ticket and handed it to her.

Looking at the two, Rika focused on Ryo first and poked him in the chest.

"Ryo, I told you once, and I'll tell you again. NO!"

The older teen looked off to the side trying to maintain his pride and dignity as best he could, despite the fact he was getting chewed out by a girl almost five inches shorter than him in the middle of an arcade full of people.

Rika then turned her attention towards Takato. Her anger was still there, but that touch of disappointment was stabbing at him like a needle through the heart.

"And you Gogglehead, I thought I told you, I'm not some trophy, or prize to win!"

Making the same mistake he usually did, Takato opened his mouth.

"Rika, I'm sorry, it's just that, when I found out that Ryo was going to get the tickets, I." Rika's glare silenced him.

"I'm not a piece of property that has to be guarded or watched over either, Takato."

Without another word, Rika turned on her heel and left the arcade, almost knocking the door's hinges off as she went.

"I'd better go make sure she doesn't do anything reckless, I'll see you tomorrow," Jeri said with a worried frown as she left to follow after her friend.

"Oni-chan's probably going to want to vent, guess I should too," Suzie said giving a polite bow towards Takato before following after Jeri and Rika with Lopmon running after her.

Rolling up his magazine, Kazu yawned before turning to the two shamed males in the middle of the arcade.

"Yep, you two definitely screwed up big time. You've got a lot to learn when it comes to chicks Chumly."

Kazu's comment snapped the two out of their stupor.

"You're one to talk! At least we've been on dates before!" Ryo made sure to shout loud enough that everyone in the arcade could hear.

"Yeah, the closest thing to a date you've ever had is after school suspension with Missis Asaji!" Takato shouted, grinning internally at the looks everyone in the arcade was now giving his friend.

Kazu's face turned red as he sputtered. Unable to think of any halfway decent comebacks, especially since they were both true he opted to wait for a better opportunity to get back at them.

* * *

"Rika! Rika! Wait up!"

Turning towards her friend, Rika waited for Jeri and Suzie to catch up to her.

"Rika, please don't be mad at him, you know he was only, trying to make you happy," Jeri said trying to catch her breath.

Frowning, Rika sighed.

"I know that Jeri, I just wish that Takato would…" Rika stopped when she caught sight of Jeri's grin.

"Now, who said anything about Takato? I only said _he_, I didn't say any names now did I?" Jeri teased with a small grin.

Despite turning a light shade of pink, Rika didn't become flustered in the slightest.

"I just wish he'd stop worrying so much…he should know by now that I'm not going anywhere…" Rika sighed.

"He's still getting use to this Rika, he's really trying his best. The only reason he did it was he knew you wanted to go, just…remember that ok?" Jeri pleaded on her friend's behalf.

Rika's frown twitched into a smile as she fished out the two tickets Takato and Ryo had handed over, then she then fished out two additional tickets from her other pocket.

"Either of you feel like going to a concert tonight?" She asked with an impish grin, waving the tickets in front of them like a folded fan.

"You had tickets all along?" Suzie asked, awed by her friends acting ability.

"Mom got them for me, I was going to take Takato, but thanks to the guys, it looks like we all get to go," Rika said handing Jeri and Suzie each one of the tickets.

"Wait a second, who are you going to give the fourth ticket to?" Suzie asked with narrowed eyes. She knew that Ryo was out, but there was still the off chance that Rika would take Takato along with them, and she secretly hoped that was Rika's intention.

Smirking, Rika pulled out her cell phone, and tapped the speed dial.

A few seconds passed before a woman's voice was heard.

"Rika? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Hey mom, how do you feel about a girl's night out with me and some friends?"

It wasn't until Rumiko arrived to pick them up twenty minutes later that Suzie and Jeri were able to feel their bottom jaws.

* * *

End chapter

AN: Yeah, not quite sure how this one turned out. I wanted to have Takato and Ryo fighting over Rika at some point, but I realized just how much damage the two would cause when they did, so a video game became the battleground instead of real life lol. Ryo is sort of interested in Rika but she's made herself pretty clear here. Takato and Rika have _dated_, but they are not _dating_ quite yet, they're still testing out the waters right now and trying to feel the other out. For those of you worried that I'm going to give Ryo the short end of the stick, I DO have somebody planned for him, so he wont be left out to dry so to speak. It's not an OC, but at the same time its not something I have seen done before, so it should be fun to put a new spin on the Tamer's series with a whole new 'ship' added to the fleet. This chapter was my first attempt at merging Takato and Rika from my primary series with the other characters that I've developed so far. It's going to be a gradual thing, so expect to see more interaction between Takato, Rika, and the others.

So? Liked it? Hated it? What did you think? Feedback helps me out quite a bit. If there was something you liked, tell me so I know to keep it. If you saw something you didn't like, tell me and I'll try to change it. Remember, this is development and testing for the big fic, so the better I can make the characters here, the better they will be for ALL of my future work.

Till next time, Ja Ne!


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